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Investor Update

Dec 6, 2023

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us today for ME2C's investor update. The company has had great success this fall with settlements from two main defendants on their long-awaited court case, working on expansion into the forever chemicals industry and on their RE extraction business. ME2C trades both on the OTC and the TSX Venture under the ticker symbol MEEC. There will be an opportunity for Q&A after the presentation. Please enter your questions in the Q&A box, and the presentation may contain forward-looking statements. With us today from the company is founder and CEO Rick MacPherson. Welcome, Rick.

Given you have only been able to put out limited information on the lawsuit as settlements are still ongoing, can we start with an update on that front and move to the other as exciting aspects of your business?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah, sure. Thank you, Jess, and thank you very much, everybody, for joining us today. The last few months in particular have been very busy in dealing with the culmination of a four, almost five-year legal suit that we filed back in 2019 against a group that we suggested were infringing on our patented technologies. That process is half over, given that approximately half of the defendants have decided to settle with us prior to trial, and the remaining defendants are now lined up for trial February 25. So we do expect to move forward on that matter. There is an opportunity for mediation between now and then, and that may also find a solution to this situation, but we are looking forward to trial, should it go to trial late February.

Now, with regards to the win to date, the settlement, which is an undisclosed amount between A.J. Gallagher Corp and the DTE division that was managing the refined coal program, is highly confidential and will remain that way. However, moving forward, we are very much looking forward to not only engage the second group at trial in February, but also to address the other infringing utilities out there that continue to use our patented process, especially given the court's rulings to date on our patent credibility. So with that, Jess, I'll turn it back to you.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay, on that note, how many infringers are there still out there? Can you estimate?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Sure. There are actually dozens and dozens of corporations, and typically two-three times that in terms of actual boilers. So, you know, the potential for us to see multiples of our annual revenue growth rate is very real indeed. I plan on moving forward in this effort early in January, and throughout the first quarter, we should be able to get a very good assessment of what the real potential is in terms of what we would expect to be able to bring on board, either as licensors or licensors and folks that we supply. And that would, you know, make a significant difference in what our revenue projections are. But by the end of the first quarter, I should have that nailed down based on that 90-day experience.

We'll be in position to give full guidance starting into Q2 of next year, and I expect it would be a very significant increase in past guidance that may have been issued.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. On that note, the ones that you, the settlements you've have reached at this point, I'm assuming you're locking these people in beyond your patent expiry. Is that correct?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

So the folks that we've been dealing with overall, in all of our dealings to date, and we have settled with many and outside of the court situation, and are in discussions with several, outside of the court situation. We always seek a multi-year contract for supply, anything from three-five years, that is as well renewable under reasonable circumstances. Our effort and our goal here is to be able to grow the business and have it maintained at its highest possible level, for at least the next five-10 years. That's the process that we continue to move forward with.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. So with this settlement increasing market share, you can parlay this into not even the ones that were not involved with the settlement. As you said, you were going to start parlaying this into increasing your market share overall in the mercury capture area, in your core business?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah. So we'll be reaching out to folks that depend on the Two-Part Process that our patent covers, early in 2024, and suggesting ways that we could work together going forward that would actually enhance the performance of the systems they have installed. As the developers and discoverers of the process, you know, we very much understand how to optimize these systems, and I think it would make sense for the operators of the Two-Part Process to listen to what we have to say and let us take a crack at improving their operations. And I think that should go forward quite well-received in the new year, and we're looking forward to getting at that.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

There's still other technologies being used. I know some, I mean, the bigger utilities, some have their own. They don't have to utilize yours, but is there any, any other technology that's even close to yours that works as effectively?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah, in a non-infrastructure world, there isn't. Our two-part patented process is the best available co-control technology for a non-infrastructure approach to capturing mercury. If you have a large, you know, modern plant with a bag house, then nine times out of ten, depending on the coal they're burning, they can get into compliance. But for about 40% of the fleet that don't have that infrastructure in place, and these are $400 million-$500 million pieces of equipment, then a sorbent approach, which is what our technology is based on, is the best available approach. And of that, our approach has always outpaced and outperformed any others in the field.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. And, so we've already talked about when you can provide information on the settlement. So right now, you said you, that you're going to mediation with, the remaining defendants, and then a potential court date, that's for the 25th of February? Is that correct?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yes. Well, that's, that's a set court date, so we can't go beyond that without seeing each other in court. The chance of mediation solving the issue prior to then is already, is always there, but, the firm court date is set for February 25th.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

I would think many of these people that haven't settled yet, don't really have much of a leg to stand on, given the settlements you've reached thus far.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Well, I really can't speak to that other than that we're quite pleased with our present position. Given the rulings of the court to date and the settlements to date, we feel very good about our position of enforcing our claims.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. So with the, you know, once you have reached settlement, will you be able to divulge that completely, or will that remain under NDA for the most part?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Well, it all depends on the terms of the settlement. The terms of the first settlement were that we were not able to disclose any of the details, but then, you know, we had a third settlement that came along, a group that were actually part of the remaining defendants, and they allowed us to publish the actual factoring of that settlement, which was $1 a ton of Refined Coal burn. As we go forward with this next group, it's yet to be seen, A, what the settlement will be, if there is one, and then secondly, what the terms of that settlement will be. I would very much like to be able to bring as much detail to the market as possible, give... But it'll all depend on whatever constraints the court imposes on us.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

And everyone's been trying, as we were just discussing, you know, everyone's been trying to quantify the dollar per ton. What that means, but without the other factors of the equation, it's hard to do. That said, do you think that kind of gives you a baseline for where others may settle, or you can't, it, or you can't say, really?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Well, Jess, I think it does definitely set some sort of precedent. Whether or not the jury will take that into consideration is not for me to say. However, I do think that we're well positioned to be able to make our case in court, and that the settlements that have occurred to date, I think will be very supportive of that effort.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. From one person here from the audience, in terms of market share of operating coal-fired power plants, your market share is about 20%. Is that correct?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

That's correct.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

And then, what percentage has settled and still in the... You kind of already answered that, so, we'll just, that's done. Do you expect to start seeing revenues derived from two utilities that settled, to be reported in, in the income statement, this coming quarter?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

I don't expect that we'll be making reference to any of the settlements in the final quarter. I expect that the first quarter of 2024 will be the timeframe where any announcements relating to any settlements or any financial results relating to any settlements will start to show.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. And I mean, here's the, so I won't answer that. Okay. And then one question I did have from a number of people, would you consider a special dividend with, with your, with your settlement, or, do you have other purposes for those, that money?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Well, of course, that would be a board decision. However, you know, there are a number of different things that we can look at as we go forward to clean up the cap table and the balance sheet. And just to run through them, there would be, you know, addressing the outstanding debt that's on our books.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Again? On that, can you just describe this road map for some people and how?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Sure.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Yeah.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

So, so the outstanding debt that we have is with a group called Alterna Capital, and there are two—there are three pieces to it. A small secured note for approximately $275,000. Then there is a, an unsecured note for approximately $13.5 million, and then there's a profit share component that's, unsecured, non-recourse, totally based on, IP wins. That's a bit more complicated.

But all in all, this is all information that it's a situation that I'll be dealing with Alterna over the course of the next 90 days as we work our way through the final piece of litigation, and then we will address the debt accordingly, according to the terms of the loan agreement and the amounts of the settlements and things of that nature. But I very much expect that by the end of the first quarter, the Alterna debt situation will be addressed in what we feel is the best approach for the company.

I can't get ahead of myself and indicate how that might be dealt with, but we have a number of different options that are favorable, both to the company and to Alterna, that we'll be pursuing and have been pursuing since we started into the litigation. So I think the company will be much stronger once we move through this first quarter. And in any regard, the debt is not a concern for us at this time.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

No, I just, I'm assuming, yeah, you wanna get that off the balance sheet and you have a. Was there a determined amount, like, on a percentage basis, depending on what your win was with, or can you not divulge that?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

No, there are terms in the agreement with Alterna, which I can't get into detail on.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Which, again, are items for discussion between us that will be worked out over the next 90 days.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. All right. Okay, and so I think we've pretty much covered as much as you can say on the, on the litigation at this point. Is that fair?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yes. There's, you know, we're still... You gotta understand, we're still in trial. We're still in a quiet period.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Yeah.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Moving to the second group of defendants, and so although we're very pleased with the results of the first settlement, I can't get into any details that might upset the remaining case that's in front of us.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay, just one question here. What percentage of market share that has settled? And two, what is the still in litigation? And lastly, three, what is the market share of the coal-fired plants that you plan to pursue afterwards?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Let me, rather than get into the specifics of that, because it, it can be a little compromising for me from a legal point of view, I think that there's tremendous opportunity in the market with a fairly stable coal-fired percentage of the fleet, being around 20%, expected to stay that way for the next five years or more. That we have the opportunity to increase our market share at least two to three times, and, and it should not take too long for us to be able to get there.

Although that, you know, can be worked into projected revenues and stuff, I would like to leave the actual estimates of guidance until that March period, because the next two months, and three months in particular, January and February in particular, will give us a great deal of feedback from the market. The trial itself will add more information to our position, so that come March, we'll have a really good handle on what this all means in terms of actual companies and boilers and tonnages of coal and all of that stuff. What the breakout will be between anticipated licensing only or licensed with a supply side contract. All of those things need to be worked out before I can give a number that's reasonable.

I think either way, it will be substantial, but I'm not really gonna get into a guidance point until I get most likely midway through March. All I can say at this point, Jess, is I feel very good about the future, and I think our market share will increase substantially because of what the courts have had to say and the settlements to date in particular. I believe that can only be enhanced with a further win on the final trial situation or mediation. I really need to wait until that stuff comes to fruition before I get out there and possibly get ahead of myself with projections. Enough said that the one-time cash settlement is-

... very significant to us and will allow us to grow the company nicely, and in a timely fashion. But the real value, the long-term value of the enterprise itself and its share value, lies in us converting all of those people that have to use the two-part process into long-term license holders or license holders and supply contracts. And as that business grows, so will we.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Well, and that's moving into that, as you get these new licensing agreements, even if you're still in litigation, will you be able to release news on that, or will you have to hold back until the litigation is finalized?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

We'll start announcing new contracts as soon as we get them in January, but we will have to hold back on any discussion of anybody who's still involved in litigation.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

... Okay. Okay, and one other person, very persistent here. Do you have a feel for how many power plants being supplied by tax credit players, players are still operating?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yes. 80% is a rough guess.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

80%? Uh-huh.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Wow! And you know, why did they think that they could actually take your technology? And, I mean, I guess it happens all the time.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah, I really don't have an answer to that. All I know is, we've you know, we disagreed with that, of course, and the results will speak for themselves.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Yeah. Okay. Okay, I'm just, I'm just sort of... There's lots of questions coming in, so I'm just kind of-

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Sure.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

The settlements to date have been a lump sum payment and then licensing agreements?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Of course, you can't answer that. Yeah. Okay.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah. So we're looking at license agreements that come with a cash sum.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

A lump sum. Okay. Okay. All right. I think we've kind of beaten the litigation to death here. So let's talk about the core business and you're focused on getting again increasing market share substantially, I think, within the U.S.. I do have a question on, you know, coal to gas switching. You did see a bit of that impact your numbers this year, and gas prices still kind of remain slow, I mean, lower than... Do you foresee that being an issue for the balance of the year, or do you?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

No. You know, we had a very strong third quarter, except one of our main clients fell off and just no longer operating. Outside of that, we've actually increased year-over-year out of that one client, and we very much expect to replace that in the near future. And so we most likely will start off next year with the same base that we finished up last year, something in the, you know, $22 million range or so for gross revenue. But as we move forward, our licensed revenue is increasing as a percentage of overall revenue, and that will drive margin up nicely.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Yeah. I was gonna say, your margins will be substantially.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Yeah. And so on that note, how are things going internationally as far as the mercury emissions capture and your expansion into, like, the Asian markets, et cetera?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Have specifically you were focused on initially.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Interesting you should mention that. We just finished a either final or almost final conference call with a group in Southeast Asia to demonstrate both our oil-fired technologies and our mercury technologies. And we'll be having a final meeting with them later this month in an effort to move our demonstrations that we've offered forward in the first quarter. And that's the first time I've mentioned that to market, and I only do so after about a year of effort in moving that project forward. So I very much expect at this point to be able to move into the Southeast Asian market most likely in the first quarter of next year. And we'll bring material notice of that to market if and when we sign off on those agreements.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. So we should maybe hear some news on that over the next six months or so. Would that be fair?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Oh, yes, yeah. I would expect in the first quarter to announce and most likely begin demonstrations.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. Okay, one person's asking, why wait till January to pursue the rest of the fleet? And why not start now? I think you're probably already talking to people, I'm assuming.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah, and that, and that's purely a legal consideration.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Mm-hmm. Okay. Is the licensing deal with Cabot in Europe still in effect? And if so, why is no revenue coming from it?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

No, it's not. We closed that deal out prior to the sale of that division of the company.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. Okay. Right. Now, let's move on to the other parts of the business. Do you want to touch on where you are with the REE? And then I'd like to really dig into the forever chemical side of things, if we could.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Sure. So, with regards to the rare earth extraction side of things, we've gotten to a good point of development. We're now working on a couple of different research programs, both actually combined with Department of Energy. We've also got an ongoing contract with the University of North Dakota that we are looking at upgrading for the new year. We're kind of taking a longer-term perspective on the rare earth extraction process, in that we want to get a new plan in place effective January, which will move it forward in partnership with a couple of other entities, which I think will be the best way to get to market quicker.

So we'll be talking in the new year about joint ventures and research at major facilities and a timeline to take that into actual demonstrations in the field. So I'm gonna hold off and get any more in-depth at this point, but in January, we should be able to bring some real specifics to that part of our endeavor. And so I'll leave it at that on the rare earth extraction. I was in London all last week at the Mines conference.

Met with several dozen folks involved in the business, in different aspects of the mining business, and got quite a bit of interest in our extraction technologies. Some of those meetings are leading as well into opportunities that I would like to develop before we make any firm decisions of our direction.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. So yeah, I mean, so that's a bit of a wait and just continue to improve the technology and, but that's—you've made some pretty good headway in the last six months on that. I know we start with—we initially talked about being in the field in the next three months, but it seems like you've now decided to go more of a increase the technology and find partners as well for the, for this RE extraction, and no one else is really doing this.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah, well, the, you know, the thing is, what I'm finding as we get closer to testing is that there are more and more people that we're finding that have been involved in it, that may not have something that actually works, but components of it could be synergistic with what we're doing. So rather than go it alone, we're trying to see if we can't pull bits and pieces of other technologies together so that we will be more apt to be successful once we do get into field trials.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. Okay, great. And now the most important part is on the forever chemicals. Where do we stand on your progress there? I know you have a technology that, I mean, there's other people out there doing it right now, removing forever chemicals. And I don't know how much you can describe the difference of what you do versus what they do, without giving away your IP. And how long do you think it will take to test your technology versus, and then get it operational? And would you do it more as a licensing agreement, or would you use a plant, or build a plant of your own? Or have you decided on that?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah. So a lot of decisions have been made, a lot haven't yet. First and foremost, we're committed to this area of business. We know that it will be most likely the one of the biggest, if not biggest, growth opportunities in the environmental area for the coming five years or so. So we very much want to get into the water business and have been working diligently. I mean, we hired a group of specialists in the field almost a year ago to work with our folks. And we've been working diligently on this over this past year. So we're at a point now where we've got some great groundwork done. We have all of the necessary things figured out with regards to starting our own plant.

We've got all the feedstock identified, we've got the location identified, we've got the power sources and the natural gas, and all of the things that need to go in. We have all the general description and design of the plant. Everything that we need is in place to move forward. Now we're backing up to work on the actual technology 100%. See, what we're trying to do, Jess, is the same thing we did in the air side of pollution. We took basically activated carbons that were the mainstay of capturing mercury, and we disrupted their use. We found a way to be able to increase the production or the capacity to capture mercury by 100%, improved it 100%, so that we basically changed that industry forever.

Rather than power plants having to spend money to put, say, 500 lbs of activated carbon in the back of their boiler hourly, our technology allowed that same operator to operate and maintain his compliance for 150 lbs an hour. And so what we were able to do is enhance the performance of these activated carbons in the air toxin world. We're trying to do the same thing for the water. At this point, with these forever chemical treatments coming in or requirements coming in, municipalities are gonna have to generate probably three, maybe four times as much activated carbon into their systems in order to meet these new compliance numbers.

What we're working on is to be able to create a technology that would allow the best carbons available to perform three, four times as much, I'm sorry, four times better at collecting these microplastics than they can today. All of the people in the business today are basically putting out extremely great product, basic activated carbon products, that are used across the United States. That's wonderful. What we're trying to do is enhance the performance so that the municipality doesn't have to buy more of it. It just works better. And we'll do that either through a license arrangement with the major suppliers, or we'll go ahead and build our own plants and start into the market development ourselves, which is what we did in the air side....

There may be acquisitions in the near term while our plant is being built, where we could test our product directly against the best means out there, and therefore build pockets of market share as we build our main plant. But either way, we will be in this business, most likely by the end of 2025.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

It is a multi-billion-dollar annual business.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Yeah, I mean, the market size is huge. When do you expect the EPA to start putting more restrictions in place and rullings?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Well, the regulations are in place, and they're now just under final review.

They will become law, most likely by the end of 2024 or sometime into 2025.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

We would expect that we will be up and operating. I think it's gonna take us another six months or more to actually finalize our technology and then another six months to test it head-to-head in real, you know, live situations around the country. And then we'll move forward either on a license basis or on an acquisition/build-out basis to be able to create our market share.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. Do you have any idea what the capital cost might be for building a plant? Would you seek a partnership, or would you want to go it alone?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

I think that we will most likely build a significant plant, not a massive one, but probably a $30-$35 million plant. We may take some local partners from the state in, folks that we would be doing business with from the feedstock side. But also, our effort to expand the business once we establish a foothold would most likely bring some other investors into our company, or not, depending on how our cash flows are improving. But, you know, the way this thing will be designed will be so that we can build out line after line after line, so that, you know, our first plant might be able to generate somewhere in the $60 million a year range in revenue.

But the site that we've selected has the opportunity to add three, four or five more lines of production. It will be located in the state of Alabama.

We have great markets to the south of us in Florida, and of course, up through the Northeast from Atlanta, right on up to New York. We'll be extremely well-positioned with this particular plant and able to take in, you know, 30%+ swath of the U.S. opportunity.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. One question from the audience. Going into the future, should large water utilities that treat water with chlorine and UV light also be looking for mercury or the other PFAS? Is there a process necessary to educate the potential hazard that your company could help in drinking water?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

I'm not sure I really understand the question, Jess.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

No, I don't.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

To say that 95% of the water that's treated in the U.S. today is done so with a high-grade activated carbon or regenerated activated carbon. That is the gold standard. I expect that will stay the same. The PFOS and PFOAs being removed will be attracted, most likely with the same technology, even though there are others that are available. And I don't really see that changing. The major players in the business with the business will continue to operate on that level. I see us as a disruptive company that can come in and enhance the performance to the benefit of not only the municipalities, but all the people that pay for the drinking water.

I see that very much as our strength, as exhibited in what we did in the power plants and the same skill set with the addition of the new folks we've put on board. I think will allow us to do the same thing in water.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. Okay. I'm just making sure I'm not missing anything here. I think we, you and I discussed this. Do the current patents cover the wastewater treatment, or will there be new patents filed? I think you decided that you're not going to file a patent on this technology, correct?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah. As we go forward, my experience has been in this whole patent world, that we're better off to keep things as a trade secret. Trade secret rules and regulations are in effect, and they're actually more defensible than patents and less susceptible to being imitated. So we're gonna keep a very close shop on what we develop as we have been. And we'll be introducing it to the market in very controlled conditions and managing the either licensing or distribution of the products closely as we go forward.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Yeah, well, there's a reason why Coke doesn't have a patent, right?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. And then, you know, we get this question a lot, and I know we, you and I, have discussed it at length as to whether or not, you know, you want to uplist on the TSX or do you plan to do a Nasdaq listing, that type of thing. I mean, we've kind of batted that back and forth a few times. And I think the decision, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, is to wait till some of this stuff gets settled, and when your settlement's done and, you know, get yourself to, you know... Well, once the lawsuit is done, et cetera, then that could be something you would approach more seriously on doing like a Nasdaq listing or something along those lines?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah, so that's something for sure that we'll take a look at after the first quarter.

You know, the last time we looked at it, we were in a situation where we had, you know, considered a reverse. That's no longer on the table at all, nor will it be in the future. I think that we will be in position, from my experience in looking at it the last time, to be accepted by other Nasdaq or NYSE. The only thing required would be organic growth to the minimum $2 trade price. And I don't see that as an issue going forward. So I would think that most likely come April, we'll be in position to take a closer look at that, and see what the advantages would be, whether the institutional market warrants us moving onto that main exchange.

And if so, I don't anticipate any real challenges in doing so.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. Yes, the question is: Do you plan to deploy settlement proceeds to develop other technologies? I mean, yeah, I guess the answer would be yes, then.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yes, of course.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Yeah. And then, okay, so, how are your types of products sold for the forever chemicals, and will you need to increase your sales or business development staff?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah. So what's really exciting about this whole water thing is, you know, working in conjunction with the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, we've come into discussions with an incredible group of business people, young engineers and chemists and scientists that have just recently graduated or are in the program. The University of Alabama has one of the largest water research facilities, part of the U.S. water system, in the country. Great expertise, and we're working to finalize an agreement with them now, on a joint venture going forward. I very much am looking forward to hiring a significant number of new people in this new effort. A large part of the construction costs that I mentioned to you earlier is for research and personnel. So I very much see-

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. So that's factored in that 30-35.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah. We'll be reinventing the company with a fresh, new group of professionals in the water field. You know, anywhere from 20 or more engineers/scientists to another 20-30 workers at the site. So it's gonna be a really great, fresh, new start for the company in this new field. You know, the original group of folks, including myself, that started the company 13-14 years ago, are getting on in age. It's time to bring a fresh, new group of folks-

Improve the knowledge that we have and the know-how with them, but I'm very excited, really, about creating a whole new, fresh, growth period for the company through this University of Alabama relationship, and the business community in that region.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. Okay, so that's great. And I mean, you're kind of a... I mean, there are people doing it, like you said, already, but not as effectively as you, you think your technology can, can be. So how far ahead do you think you are to others that maybe out there working on differing technologies that are already being utilized?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

I think we're one of the leaders in the field at this time. There is some rationale that I would rather not, get into the details of right now, Jess, as to why I feel so strong about our prospects for success in this area. But as we get into material announcements, most likely in that second quarter of next year, it'll start to come clear, much clearer to the investment community as to why we're going all in on this. You know, we've just had some significant settlements. We have tremendous growth ahead of us in our core business. But for me, the, the water side holds ten times as much potential, especially longer term. And as much as I see significant growth in our near-term future, the longer term future for the water side, I think is phenomenal.

I think there will be a complete new crew of young professionals moving into our company over the next year or two, and they will take the company to, you know, many, many higher levels of achievement than, than we'll see in the near term, in the next two, three years, in spite of that being significant.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Okay. And, oh, going back to the litigation, do remaining defendants risk much higher award to ME2C if they choose not to settle?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

I'm sorry, what was that?

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Do remaining defendants risk much higher award to you guys if they choose not to settle? I don't really understand that question.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah, that, that's nothing I could comment on at this time.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Yeah.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

-Jess, I'm sorry.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Yeah. Okay. So let's just, I think we've kind of covered everything, unless I'm missing something, Rick. But let's just review the catalysts here. So we've got, you know, a mediation over the next, month and a bit, potential court date. We should have some news first quarter on, the Thai water market, and then, you know, continue new licensing agreements as well as finalizing settlements. So these are all things that could be happening over the next, what, three-six months, basically?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Yeah, I think the first quarter will be very.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Busy.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Developmental for us. I think where we sit now as a company, it's a basic start of where we grow from. If you consider back in 2016, we did $32 million, almost $33 million in revenue. You could almost reset us back to that point prior to the infringement. And we were on a growth curve then of, you know, significant growth year-over-year. I think we're gonna be back on that curve again on our core business. And I think given the know-how and the work and effort we put into the rare earth extraction and water technologies, we're going to be going full-blown into those new areas of endeavor, which I think either or collectively have tremendous value potential in them.

I think our skill set is such and proven that we should be able to enhance the performance of activated carbon as it's used in water, like we did in air, and should we be able to do that, carve a whole new niche for the company and its new personnel and approach for the next five-20 years. So very excited, not only about where we are as a company and what I see in the near term, but what that's gonna mean to us and our ability to be able to grow this skill set out into a very substantial multinational company.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

That's fantastic. Fantastic. Really, I'm really looking forward to the next few months here on the story, and we'll have further updates, either via this way. I mean, you'll have press releases to release, but we'll also have more updates, I think, like this, to keep the market abreast of what's going on.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Sure. Very much look forward to it.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Yeah. And if anyone would like to do a one-on-one with the company, I'm happy to arrange that. You can just reach out to me at jessica@adcap.ca, or if you have any further questions, I'm happy to answer them. And I think we've covered everything today, have we not?

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Well, that's great, Jess. Thank you so much, and I look forward to-

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Yeah, thank you for your time.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

My pleasure.

Jesica But
Senior Corporate Credit Analyst, Adcap

Happy holidays. Happy holidays, everyone.

Richard MacPherson
President and CEO, ME2C

Thank you, now.

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