IGO Limited

Great. Thank you.

Good morning, good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us.

I know it's a super busy day, lots and lots of quarterlies for the market, so you're running around. So I appreciate you dialing in, taking the time to catch up with our results.

I won't spend too long as usual, just trying to hit the highlights. Kath will pick up the financials as we get further through, and then we can dive into some Q&A.

Just to sort of touch the headlines first before I run through a few areas in more depth. I think safety, again, continued improvement.

I've talked about this since I started the role 2 years ago, and I'm really pleased that we're making steady improvement every quarter. Team is working really hard at it.

They absolutely treat this as their first priority, and the results are flowing through, which we're really pleased about. Naturally, it's never done that focus on a good mature culture is something that we'll keep working at.

But I think it ties back into performance in the mine as well. And obviously, these results are largely focused around Nova.

And you'll see the results from -- no, really, really strong through the last quarter, production cost. The team is doing a great job, and I've reinforced obviously, a few quarterly now.

How difficult it is when you get to the end of an ore body like this or you're approaching the end of mine life? It is challenging, team is dealing with that extremely well.

And we start to see where focus on good safety, good productivity, good discipline in our operations all tie together, and we're also driving great cost outcomes as well. I do recognize, of course, the benefit of the byproduct credits from copper, which is nice.

It's another piece of the pie. And obviously, lithium, nickel market is fantastic for the last 12 months of this mine.

But as you can see, it starts with what we control and the basics are running well. For Greenbushes, look, obviously a better quarter than the first quarter of this financial year, which was impacted by rain and grades.

We've seen that grade improve. That's continuing to flow through, and we'll see that lift through the second half of this financial year.

But some improved production, sales of which is just a shipment, which, to be honest, is with a very rapidly rising market, not the world that we end up seeing some improved financials on the back of that. And a lot of work is happening to get CGP up and going, CGP3 at least.

That's, as we've announced already, hit first ore and produced first concentrate this month a huge focus on that ramp-up, and I'll talk more to that in due course. Kwinana, look another quarter that's sort of in line with prior quarters.

I think really to call out was impacted by a shutdown that took out some of the available days of production. The team did finish the last month at about 50%, which is sort of the best that we've seen from the refinery for any sustained period.

And I guess we -- as much as the lithium prices up, we continue to take the view that this has got a very challenged future. So that's I think the quick highlights.

Our financials, capital further as you can see that we generated positive free cash and continue to maintain a very strong balance sheet. If I drop down a little bit further into Nova, and I touched on these points, I mean a really good operational quarter, delivering cash to the business.

I talked about a stope this fire in Q1, which has been addressed and mitigated. And again, that's the sort of thing that the team naturally doesn't want to happen, had to work really hard to deal with it safely.

They've done that, and it's now in the revision [ mirror ] looking forward. With the mine at this point so close to closure, we don't have the ability to flex that schedule.

And so we have to deal with these things very effectively. Sales is a bit lower, just in line with shipping plan.

So one less shipment for the quarter that will roll through. There's nothing really material in that.

And overall, tracking really well against our end-of-life mine guidance. As I said, the performance from production was really good, and they continue to live through this quarter.

So we've got some strong confidence there right through to the end of this calendar year. And of course, costs are a function of that performance.

All that said, the team are working really hard to manage our costs as this line ramps down. We're certainly not looking to carry anything that we don't need to as we move towards closure in 2027.

Kwinana next, just to touch on it quickly because then we can talk a bit more on Greenbushes. As I said, 35% nameplate for the quarter, 2.1 kilotonnes.

We're tracking pretty much in line with our guidance as we set out for the financial year. The costs are up, and that's a function of the production through the quarter, we did take a bit out with the maintenance shut that was done and some other modifications that were done to the plant.

The next slide, into Greenbushes. So look, it's a good quarter, lift on Q1 in production.

Costs are still running high relative, and that's obviously largely production related. As the tonnes ramp up, we'll see that come back in.

The realized price lifted to $850, which I think reflects this very close connection with the PRAs or the spot price in the market, and I'll talk more to that on the next slide. I think it's something that's very favorable, particularly in this lifting market, very buoyant market now.

And the big news was obviously getting first ore through CGP3 late last year, just before Christmas. The team did find some issues as they started to run it up, stopped, fix those early in January and then got back into it.

As I said, we've just seen first concentrate starting to come through. So look, the asset is working.

I think they took the time, and it was down to -- go and check a few more things, hopefully avoid any more surprises, and the work in front of them now is to ramp that up, hopefully smoothly. We're going to know more by our half year results in a few weeks' time or 3 weeks away.

So I think that will be a place where I can give you a more substantive update at this point, it's a bit early really to say too much until we see a few more results. I have a couple of extra slides on Greenbushes and wanted to start, as we've talked about in the last quarter, to just feeding more information to the extent I can about both the life-of-mine optimization or the strategic review that we're doing and the focus on productivity.

The first thing I did want to touch on first was just on the price growth, which I'm sure everybody is following closely in the market. It's certainly moving very, very quickly.

I would say, relative to the expectations that I had, fine is what it is. I'm sure we're going to have some ups and downs.

We saw overnight that there was a bit of downshift with FX and others. And I think we certainly expect to see some of the curtailed supply out there start to be reintroduced.

And I think this morning mentioned they were looking at that. I see more of that, which might pay for it.

But really, the takeaway from this slide is the way that, that translates for Greenbushes. And as you know, when we take the average of the PRAs 1 month price trails, but it's pretty much a very close connection to the spot price that's out there, does give us a very good realized price that flows through.

We don't have any of that lag or impact from contracts that might carry discounts or other frictions from a lower [ end-of-life ] in the cycle. So I expect we're going to see obviously some very attractive lifts in our realized price over the coming months.

The next slide then I guess brings to life how that translates into margin, which is one of the things, again, I've called out before, I think Greenbushes is one of those few mines of any point in the world that generates extremely high margins. I think we said 64% EBITDA for the last quarter.

And I think the low end was just shy of 60% at the absolute bottom of the cycle. But the thing that's really unique is it also drives fantastic cash conversion and translates into returns that flow out of the business.

They don't have to be reinvested to maintain production. And this chart brings to life what that looks like if you take 1.5 million tonnes, so current production level roughly at 2,000 tonnes.

And then with the lift in production that's coming through CGP3, the sort of amount of cash that's generated through that step-up just help to visualize that. The next slide talks a bit to the optimization work that's ongoing.

It's a slide that I have referred to before. Just to reorient everyone, we've got an overall review of the entire mine, which is, I guess, life-of-mine optimization, I'm going to talk to one example of the kind of work that's happening there in a minute.

That is significant. It's got a lot of expertise -- external expertise helping us with it.

It basically goes right back to the ore body, assesses the characterization, the design of the mine, how we manage waste, tailings, grades, et cetera, top to tail. And reset that [ optimum ] mine in doing so obviously unlocks a lot of value.

In parallel with that, we were also focused heavily productivity. Now these things are naturally linked.

Productivity work is happening now anyway, and that's focused across a number of different streams. All of that together brings us to, I guess, our goal, which is achieving the full potential of Greenbushes.

And Rob, the CEO there at Talison, is doing a great job. He has got a lot to work through and as the team he's put together are working through it.

They are finding a whole range of issues, challenges and changes they need to meet. And that's part of the shift.

But I mean, we've seen Nova in the short space of time, make this shift in this steady focus on production stability and safety. I don't share the safety results of Talison, but there is some challenges there as well.

I think these teams are linked. And Rob's got a really good set of programs and changes in place step by step to support the team to shift that culture and focus on safety, on production reliability, stability and ultimately productivity, it will drive out more tonnes and obviously less costs as well.

The example I want to refer to for the overall asset review really looks at the pit wall -- steepening pit walls is something that naturally has risk or threat and opportunity both ways. On the upside, it means a lot lower strip ratio.

And in this case, you can see and I'll talk to the line in a minute, it starts to expose more metal or more material -- valuable material that otherwise might not have been accessible. On the downside, if we get it wrong, you have a geotech issue or a failure in the wall that can sterilize more.

So it needs a lot of careful work and thought. The team have brought in experts to help them with that.

They are maturing their geotechnical management processes and activities. They're doing all the right work to make sure that we control those risks, but ultimately unlock a lot of value.

And if you look through this chart, you'll see some little dotted lines that run out into the gray patch on the right-hand side. And so that sort of pit shell, the 2023 resource shell and the '21 resource shell shows what the overall resource would be.

And you can imagine if you actually did all that strip, it's a huge amount of work. The other point to note though is on top of that gray-shaded area there on the left side of that slide [indiscernible] our plants.

So it will require us moving a lot of infrastructure and assets, which is extremely costly. It's not to say you can't do it.

I mean that's the kind of work that other mines in the world have had to go through, but it's not very desirable. So the other way to tackle this is if you take those lines that run into the gray and you draw them straight up to the edge of the gray and you steepen that wall significantly, you can start to access that high-grade core, you can lower your strip ratio significantly, so you expose more metal, lower strip, much lower cost and ultimately drive an enormous amount of extra value out of the mine.

That's the kind of example of work that's happening at the moment, wanted to do this to try and just illustrate it. So when you start to see more of the results and the information coming through as we get through the decisions, finalize our plans and we can present that back to the market; you'll understand where that's come from and just helps to give you a sense of the work that's happening.

Equally, the care that we're taking to make sure that this is done properly, as many of you know, this mine is 135 years old, even we're working in is quite mature. And any change to that, we need to make sure we're done with due care and attention.

The last slide then on Greenbushes just speak to the productivity stream that I mentioned earlier. We put in the sort of major areas of focus, mining being naturally a big one early.

And I've put a couple of little charts in there that just illustrate the lift in productivity from the mining fleet. And that takes us to what we believe is industry average.

So we're not outperforming yet, but I want to give credit to the team to [ Rob, Adam ] and the mining team, they've made a lot of focus on this. The -- a lot of issues they are working through different challenges, but I think they're really starting to see some results come through now, and that will play out in our costs, obviously, our waste movement.

And the second area I want to talk about was then just production and plant performance. And that's a mix of utilization through better asset management and reliability so we get that throughput, but also recovery.

So more stability will drive recoveries and then work to optimize recoveries. As part of that, we're also looking at value and use, which means what is the grade that we're selling to our customers?

Is that optimum for them? What level of impurities?

How much are we throttling the assets to the processing plants to achieve that? And what's the cost or value trade-offs?

So we're asking those kind of questions as part of this to make sure that we really optimize this, recognizing the customers' interest and their costs, but equally, what's the best we can do with the plant. The business has run, producing SC6 and a fixed grade on impurities for a very long time, and we haven't really asked the question.

And so we are at least testing it, and we'll see what makes sense. No decisions yet, but it again shows you the kind of work that's happening.

And the impact on productivity from these different streams is quite significant. So that's a quick round up on the operations, a bit more on Greenbushes.

I turn it over to Kath and touch on the highlights on the financials, and then we can get into some Q&A.

Thanks, Ivan. Hi, everybody.

Sales revenue was AUD 82 million. And as Ivan indicated, it was lower due to shipment timing from Nova.

Nova EBITDA was up AUD 42 million, which included some value adjustments with the inventory adjustment in the month of December. The share of net profit from TLEA rounded to zero.

Positive profit at Greenbush is being offset by losses at Kwinana, and this includes our share of capital expenditures we impaired that asset to zero. I also wanted to call out again that we're pricing [indiscernible] of spodumene.

So next quarter, we'll see the benefit of the [indiscernible] higher. Underlying EBITDA improved to AUD 30 million, supported by [indiscernible] and some mark-to-market movements on investments that we have.

We remain laser focused on cost control, but you'll note that -- or I'd like to note that this [indiscernible] had a one-off payment for our insurance in [indiscernible] quarter. Free cash flow was positive at AUD 13 million, and our balance sheet continues to strengthen with net cash increasing to AUD 299 million.

I think that summarizes [ the results ].

Thanks, Kath. Well, look, we'll turn it over to Q&A.

I'm throwing a different mic. Hopefully, the sound quality is better for you.

But yes, we can open up and start taking some questions.

Just the first one for me is related to CGP3. Obviously, you've started commissioning and ramp up there.

What is the rough time line of you achieving that nameplate, please, just so that we can test our numbers going forward on that one? And I'll come back with a second.

Yes, in simple terms, 12 months, so the end of the calendar year.

Got it. Okay.

Perfect. And then just on the pricing, we basically had you achieved the price during this quarter for, I guess, the months of September, October and November.

And even if I apply about a 5% discount, I'm still getting to a higher price. Now obviously, I acknowledge that the shipment timings might have been a key impact here.

But is that the right way to think about pricing, September, October, November? And then based on when the ships basically are loaded and leave the port, basically, you're selling -- the timing is FOB basis.

Is that right?

Yes, it is. We can double check it and clarify.

Yes, that's -- your understanding is absolutely correct.

Yes, yes. Just because looking at our numbers for the price and also for consensus, the pricing was a tad bit weaker.

So I just wanted to understand if we're kind of modeling that correctly.

We'll double check. I mean we obviously do reconcile that, but we'll just make sure if there's something that's in there.

Whether it's tied to the shipment possibly, I'm not sure, but we'll get back to you to make sure we've got the right inputs for your model.

Excellent. And if I can just slip in one more, just around sort of Greenbushes going forward.

Obviously, a strong lithium price environment, and you've got a downstream partner there at the mine as well. You've talked about the age of the mine and then also you're ramping up CGP3.

And if I look at your sensitivity chart in terms of the sales volumes, you've obviously got about 2 million tonnes, which is what your current plans are. Have any conversations started as yet in terms of any future expansions at the mine and how they might look like in terms of underground, above ground?

What type of hurdles you guys need to cross in terms of thinking about further expansions? Anything related to growth, I guess, in the Greenbushes space?

Yes. Look, there's a lot going on there, but that's included in that broader life-of-mine optimization.

The existing assets, so CGP1 and 2, we believe, can offer up a lot more productivity and throughput and production. So optimizing them naturally bringing CGP3 up to its full potential as well, so that's using the existing suite of capital that we've deployed.

The tailings retreatment facility, we're working through that study presently. So we know what to do there as well.

So there is a lot happening in that space to recognize and drive growth from the existing capital base and make sure we've got the best from it. CGP4 is in the mix.

It's one of those things that sits in the schedule, and we've got to find where the optimum place for that is. We don't have that answer yet.

There's a lot of moving parts in the review that we're doing. It's very significant.

But as I get more detail step by step, we will feed it out. I guess I'm just as eager as you are, of course, to have that finished because it gives us a really clear new baseline to work against.

And Rob and the team are working really hard. I think we'll see some of that come through in the reserve and resource update we do later in February.

And you mentioned underground. So we're certainly looking at where that fits.

And as we think about the overall resource, I've talked about pit wall as one lever that obviously drives a lot of value, but equally understanding which part of the resource we want to target through the open pit versus underground and then what the schedule and sequence of that is, again, work that's underway currently.

So do we have an updated expected date for the life-of-mine optimization?

No. No.

Sorry, Levi. I would love that, too.

I'm pressing regularly. Rob's probably getting annoyed with me.

But look, they're working hard. They're making progress.

I think there are some areas where they dig in, they find things that they just have to do more work on technically to make sure that we're going to make the right decisions. So I will share a clear plan or at least target once we have one, but I just don't have that to offer up.

Okay. So in the absence of that, so can you -- maybe you need a big second half as CGP3 ramps up.

Can you just remind us of its operating parameters, maybe tonnes grade recovery, so full speed by the end of the year? What does that actually mean?

Yes. I mean you're talking about the whole grade curve and so on.

I mean, we've given you the nominal tonnes, 0.5 million tonnes. It will run at, I guess, design feed grade is the same as CGP2, which is about 1.8%.

And it will run to, I guess, test recoveries, we are targeting higher than that. So you've seen the results of CGP2 starting to rise, the team do more work on it.

I guess our goal naturally from the ramp-up is that we don't have to go through that process that we actually are hitting our grade curve from the outset and then beating it. But I'm not going to promise that at this point.

It's where the team is focused. I don't know -- is that what you're looking for?

I mean all those numbers we've shared previously, I'm just not sure there's nothing new at this stage that's going to change things until we get further into the ramp-up.

Yes. Okay.

So just pushing you further on that. So just confirming on Page 7 of the preso, the 2 million tonne rate.

So do we take that as being the calendar year '27 run rate?

No. That was an indication of margin of that volume.

It's a capacity. It's not a mine plan that we've issued as guidance yet.

Yes. Okay.

And so the next round of meetings with TLEA and the Tianqi for guidance. So when is the '26 budgets expected to be set?

We've been through that now. They're getting signed off as we speak.

So that's a '26 calendar year for TLEA too. And we'll then take that and build our guidance for the '27 financial year, obviously a bit closer to the time.

First one on your comments around Greenbushes guidance, production is sort of tracking slightly below, CapEx also below. If I try and triangulate those 2 comments, is that just in terms of stripping at the mine, is that running a little bit behind, and that's why your strip ratio has sort of fallen in the last quarter and why both production and CapEx might be lower for the year?

No, they're not all linked. So stripping will come down, and we talked about this example on it, I mean we'll see a material reduction we expect in our strip ratios through that, and that will trend down.

Quarterly variations is more about weather impact through Q1, obviously have less of the pit access and availability. They're now fully open, so that will look different.

But the team are looking at where they keep waste, how they manage waste, the grade and sweeping of those waste stockpiles. There is a lot of changes that they're working through presently.

So I don't want to try and characterize these things as just one caused the change. In terms of the production, look, it's partly grade related, which was a bit better than we saw in Q1, of course, a little bit worse than we had in our plan, and that's just a normal reconciliation we're working through.

Team are getting there. And the other bigger factor is, of course, just the way that CGP3 ramps up.

That's really the key unknown. Hence, what we anticipated in our guidance in terms of that start-up, we're behind.

Is it not recoverable? No, not at this point, but that's what we're going to need to see in the coming weeks or months, how that goes.

That will give us a gauge to how the rest of this year looks and then obviously into the rest of the calendar year. So there's a few different moving parts, but certainly wouldn't tie them all together in terms of the production outcome for Q2.

Got it. In terms of the CapEx timing piece, then I presume those are all works that will still need to happen.

So maybe that's more of a shuffling some of the CapEx into FY '27 rather than things no longer?

Yes. I mean, as I've talked about in prior quarters, I mean, Rob has got a very tight handle on CapEx.

He's been very prudent, and he is pushing back on it, which is good. But we're not in a place where we're ready to down Street guidance on it yet.

We'll see how -- again, how that pans out now as they run up to CGP3. Obviously, some of those costs are capitalized until we get to commercial production.

So there's a bit more to come, but I don't think you should read into that, that there's a major issue that's impacting production.

Got it. And then just sort of second one, I think dovetailing off Rahul's question earlier around the realized pricing piece.

Can you just remind us what sort of volumes are going out on the technical grade piece at the moment? And if that's also a bit of a delta there in terms of that realized pricing?

Look, it's very small. It wouldn't be material enough to realized pricing.

And we're talking 50,000, 80,000 tonnes in a year. So it's pretty small, right.

Yes. Got it.

Great. And then just last one if I can, sort of back on the IGO level, and you've highlighted, obviously, the step change in potential cash generation for Greenbushes at current spodumene pricing.

We're 2 months through your current quarter, basically pricing setting. Does that then enable you to start thinking about dividends back out to IGO shareholders given you have that line of sight to cash flow when you're sort of at or above your threshold for excess returns already?

Or is that maybe a little bit too early for February still?

Yes, too early. I mean I think we've got a very clear capital framework at Windfield, which we use to manage dividends and obviously, the debt there, obviously there were some movements in the debt.

We'll work through that. We'll pay dividends out of Windfield to the shareholders of TLEA in due course, and that will be done.

But again, based on that framework, very well managed and controlled. And then the key discussion will be the TLEA as to what we want to maintain there in liquidity and what shareholders might then paid out.

So certainly no discussions or decisions on that at this point. The first step is to see that cash really starting to flow through Windfield.

Ivan, just on that framework that you talked about with Windfield, $150 million of debt paid this quarter, but no cash distribution to IGO. What's the priority now further degearing versus distribution?

And as CGP3 ramps up, is there a set level or cash buffer that's required before distributions resume? I'll circle back with the second.

Yes, I pick up the last part first. So we've got -- I mean, there is a cash buffer we will hold.

That's not tied to CGP3 or any specific part of the asset. It's just a part of our own capital framework, and that's being managed.

Naturally, we'll look at then dividends versus the debt and the balance on that, and we'll take into account things like the U.S. dollar and forward views on cash generation and so on.

So all those decisions go through a pretty structured process with the Board and the shareholders. And out of that, we'll let you know how that translates.

Obviously, the way this market behaves is going to be relevant. Obviously, it's very buoyant right now.

And certainly, all the signals are for a very strong Europe demand. But equally, we expect to see more supply come online [indiscernible] but other production as well.

So I think before we get ahead of ourselves too far, we just want to sort of see how that washes through and take a view then on how best to allocate that cash to drive maximum value for the business.

So just to confirm, it's degearing currently the focus?

No. Yes, no, it's not a focus.

That was -- this is part of CFOs managing in a day-to-day sense. We will naturally want to pay dividends and think about our debt.

So they're both important priorities.

Sure. Okay.

Maybe secondly, on Kwinana. Conversion costs spiked materially this quarter.

How much of that reverses with utilization versus how much reflects embedded cost issues?

No, it's been largely impacted by the maintenance because remember, we don't capitalize anything. Everything is expensed.

And obviously, the production volume is impacted through that period. So you've got a compounding set of elements there.

I think the team are working to drive out cost. And as we're looking at and we're working through '26 budget for Kwinana.

There is a lot of pressure on that as to depreciate and CapEx as well. So the team naturally are trying to find ways to drive better reliability and better performance, but do that with less costs as well.

And I would not take Q2 as a market that says it's trending up or that's the run rate [ look out for ].

Can I ask another one on the ramp-up of CGP3, which I guess you called out as the biggest factor in the softer guidance commentary you've given? Can you give us any more information on the specific issues that have been, I guess, based and dealt with so far that you mentioned earlier on the call, was there anything specific related to equipment or fee or people or anything?

And then in your view, are there any sort of key risks or checkpoints now looking forward? Or is it just a sort of steady improvement over the course of the year?

Yes. I'll share what I can, Matt.

It's a good question. It's equipment related.

So one of the mills needed some realignment. It's not an unusual problem.

Australians you kind of go, well, how that not get dealt with earlier, but it happens. I've been through a few of those.

We needed some resealing, again not fantastic because it's painful to do it. It's not a big issue.

It's just logistically to get back in and fix some of these things just takes a bit of time. The good news was the team used some of that downtime when they were working through some of these issues to then just go back over motors, pumps, et cetera, and pump test and check and just really get confidence.

I think they changed out previous pieces so that we can get a -- hopefully be more cleaner in next phase of the commissioning and ramp up. But for anyone who's been through these things before, there's plenty of unknowns.

So you have to be very careful not to get too excited one way or the other. It's still pretty early in the process to sort of see how it behaves.

I think the good news is you talk about the other things that could be a factor. So fee is fine.

That's all good. People and capability, we've got a great team there, lined that up well.

[ Paul ] who's the project director, got an integrated team for commissioning. Strong team in place.

So we feel comfortable with that. We've got great support from the vendors.

We've got access to all the support equipment that we need. So there's no big risk there that we're sitting here deeply worried about.

But I just think it's way too early to call or to get a real sense. I think by the time we can get to our half, I'll get a better read on how things are going.

at this point, I'm pleased we've got better half, they're starting to basically run the plant and actually start to see what the recoveries are, how it's behaving and obviously look at the tuning in the reagents and all of the long steps you take in that first month or so from start.

Okay. That's helpful.

Then secondly, you -- as you called out, put some additional numbers in the presentation there around some of the recent productivity improvements at Greenbushes, improved truck utilization, improved material movement. And you suggested that, that will flow through into the cost line over time.

Obviously, there's a lot of moving parts that go into the final cash cost number. But I guess I'm wondering, in isolation, are you able to maybe put some dollars around some of those mining productivity improvements?

I mean what's the goal for where you think you can get the cost of material movement with some of this productivity improvement? Is it $10 a tonne?

Is it $7 a tonne or whatever the number is from a ballpark perspective, what's the team working towards? I suspect you'll tell me that some of that will come out in the life of mine optimization piece.

But yes, just wondering if there's any sort of high-level thoughts around that at the moment.

Yes, it will. I mean I don't want to give you a number yet.

I mean, that is a conversation, of course, when we go through budgets and we're pressing the team. They're a bit gun shy to offer up in the first year because it's still a work in progress.

But we're starting to see a profile through '26, '27, which really does show some substantive improvements in unit costs on those underlying activities, and I think that will naturally flow through. We're also, as every mine does volume [ rate ] decline.

So some of it is eroded indirectly through that or offset. But the goal is net-net, we're actually beating that and both through increased throughput or production and also then the just more efficient work through less stripping and so on that we're actually continuing to strengthen our position as the lowest cost lithium rock producer in the world by a long shot and just keep on consolidating.

So Rob's -- I think I've mentioned before, sort of put that broader goal out there to be the lowest cost lithium units in the world, and there's still a gap to the very best brains out there, but it's intruding range. So I think it's a good target and a good challenge for the team and the team can say, how could you run this mine differently and what needs to be true for us to start the overall cost performance and that's not going to come in a quarter or 2 of course.

I guess what I'm trying to do is to the extent I can share information as we do, [ beat it ] out step by step to give you a greater insight and picture on improvements and then also give you some of those underlying productivity and performance numbers so that you can update your view of the asset.

Waiting for the study outcomes with [indiscernible].

Just one quick question. Yes, most of the questions have been asked already.

So just one on the base metal strategies. I think previously, you were talking about outside of lithium, you are looking at other early-stage opportunities.

Just conscious that given this EPS, seems like a windfall of cash coming from the strong lithium market, how does that change your thinking of the exploration of the other opportunities? Could we see some capital being allocated to that part in addition to shareholder returns and debt repayment?

Look, Austin, it's a great question. No, it really doesn't change.

I mean the criteria that we've applied since I started 2 years ago, a lot of discipline, has been a big part of this real clarity around kind of returns that we're looking for from any growth needs to be in that ballpark around Greenbushes, we don't want to heavily dilute our business and trying to hit Greenbushes, as you can imagine, that's a very high bar. And so we can allocate capital first there and actually that's going to be the most accretive and most sensible thing to do, which we're focused on dealing with things that are a drag on our returns, i.e., Kwinana, which we're working through, we've been clear about that.

And then to add something to it. I mean, it's difficult, hence, why we've been continue to be very disciplined.

If we saw something that we felt would deliver appropriate returns, sure. The lithium price, to be honest, or having said, and the translation of that into cash doesn't really change that decision.

Because we have much more cash available to us, we're not going to be more eager to make a decision there. It will be on the same criteria regard.

Arguably, the best time to be doing things if you saw it was 12 months ago or 8 months ago. So it comes back to our [ own ] value, and we've got a very high bar, and that's good and bad.

It's an absolute privilege to be part of the custodian of Greenbushes and it just means that our growth has to be very, very focused. That's probably all I can say at this point, Austin, but it's more of the same.

Just a simple one really. Grades at Greenbushes, I think if I'm hearing correctly, they're back above 2%.

And so therefore, the implication is like just putting CGP3 to the side, not stripping that out from this question. We should expect a material lift in production for the next couple of quarters from the existing business, not CGP3, correct?

Yes. Well, you'll get a lift, yes.

I think it's -- I mean, not a best rate clearly equally interruption. We had a pretty good quarter, weather-wise, some rain, later than expected through Q2, but Q1 is always going to be a challenge.

So there's naturally some of those impacts, [ freighted ] impact. And then the productivity is the other piece, which I know Adam and his team are working very hard on.

I'm pushing and expecting to see them to deliver results through all of that hard work as well.

All right. Thank you.

Look, it's nice to speak with you guys. Hopefully a break before the next one.

I won't say too much. I mean just to recap, I think Nova was really pleased, as I said, safety, production cost is hitting the mark.

This is an operation that we focus on. It's relatively small and simple, but it's a signpost of how we want to bring our capability to operating a mine.

And I think all credit to the team, they've done a great job there and set this year up very well. So that's great.

Unfortunately, it's only a year to go, not another 10 is what it is, so I'll manage that through. Greenbushes, a better quarter.

The big focus is CGP3. Naturally, we're very pleased to be ramping that up into a lifting and buoyant market.

It's fantastic, and there's a huge amount of focus to make sure that smooth. And ideally, we meet all of our plans.

That's always going to be the target. But at this stage, it's early, you just need to back the team and support them as they get through that work.

All that said, I mean, this is the time when Greenbushes really shines. This is the period of lifting price, a buoyant market when you see the very best hard-rock lithium asset in the world, turn it on more production and a whole lot more margin.

So we're pleased to be part of that and continue to work with the team to improve this performance. Thanks for everyone's attention and support, and we look forward to talking to you soon at the half year results.