Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Lynas half-year results briefing. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question-and-answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star one on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I'd now like to hand the conference over to your speakers today, to Lynas Rare Earths. Thank you. Please go ahead. Good morning, and welcome to the Lynas Rare Earths investor briefing for the half year ending 31 December. Today's briefing will be presented by Amanda Lacaze, CEO and Managing Director, and Amanda is joined by Gaudenz Sturzenegger, CFO, Andrew Arnold, General Counsel and Company Secretary, and Daniel Havas, Vice President of Strategy and Investor Relations. I'll now hand over to Amanda. Please go ahead, Amanda. Well, good morning, everybody. Delighted once again that you have seen fit to dedicate some of your day to listening to us talking about our results. As always, Rare Earths has been much in the news recently, including for a variety of reasons, geopolitical reasons, supply chain dependencies, and of course, you know, a number of aspiring entities who are happy to talk to this market. I'm really delighted to present the Lynas results today and to reaffirm that for investors, Lynas provides an excellent opportunity to be exposed to the good news in the rare earth market. We are a proven producer now for many years. We have a track record of on time, on budget execution, which is something which has really dogged the market outside China. We make money without any fancy adjustments to our P&L. I must say that in terms of an investment in this market, it looks to me on the fundamentals that we are significantly cheaper than some others. I have had some feedback already this morning that our presentation is light. Well, I guess others need to pad their presentations with where they have light or no operating data. I would rather our numbers speak for themselves. Our numbers are excellent. So for everyone who has followed our business for any time and who is a shareholder in our company, I would expect that you are very pleased with these outcomes. Sales revenue is up. Cost of sales is actually just down, just a little, despite the fact that we have produced and sold more NdPr than in the prior corresponding period. Our EBITDA are at AUD 80 million. I would remind you that that is across a six-month period where the price ranged from AUD 41 to AUD 49 on average across that period of time. So of course, as we look at the price looking more positive at present, it doesn't take a math genius to be able to work out what the effect is on our EBITDA. And our net profit after tax is up a very satisfying 944% from the prior corresponding period. It was a busy six months, and we have talked about this previously at the quarterly results. But I think that, of course, cash results always have a number of distortions in them, whereas here we have, you know, sort of a purer view of the outcomes. So our ready-for-sale NdPr production at 2,700 tons. As we have indicated previously, we are not running at full capacity, and the reason we're not running at full capacity is that there are still a number of challenges, which I'll speak to shortly on, introduced really by continuing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our sales volume was up on the prior corresponding period. So the COVID-19 challenges are not just health challenges, and I'm sure that anybody who's involved in any sort of business would understand this. We have reinforced and strengthened our health and hygiene protocols in both Malaysia and Western Australia. This is because it is the right thing to do for the health and well-being of our people and our communities. Malaysia has been experiencing a significant third wave of infections since October 2020, and ensuring that our people and our local communities are well protected is essential. So the sorts of things that we are doing, communication, education, disclosure reporting, but most importantly, testing of our people, ensuring physical distancing in the site, hygiene and precautionary procedures. And we're proud of the fact that we've been recognized within Malaysia as a best practice organization and have been asked by MIDA to provide briefings to other firms. Many of the cases in Malaysia have come out of workplace clusters, and the fact that we have been able to manage ours in the way that we have is a testament to our people who have followed the procedures and our people who have actually implemented the protocols. During this time, we are pleased to be able to say that we have also increased our contributions to our local communities. Many others have stepped back. We have stepped forward. Our local communities on the east coast of Malaysia are not only suffering the economic effects created by movement control orders and other initiatives in Malaysia, but also we had our most significant flood season on the East Coast since 2014. Our team in Malaysia, our community team, has stepped up their activity with additional contributions of all sorts of practical items, which, you know, range from comforters so that people without houses have something to sleep on, through to sanitary products for teenage girls. Not always, you know, seem to be, you know, sort of the things that you would necessarily want to put in headlines, but a crucial part of our operations. The COVID-19 pandemic also creates other challenges for us. Probably the most significant of those, which I talked to in the quarterly report, is the variability and unpredictability in some of our shipping schedules. Getting availability of shipping can be difficult, but even once we have either our raw materials, including our concentrate, going from Australia to Malaysia, or our finished goods, departing Malaysia for our customers, particularly in East Asia, there is variability, and I think most recently we've had, you know, sort of virtually all of our shipments rescheduled in some way. So we are having to take actions to carefully manage that, including increasing our raw materials inventory for at-risk materials and the strategy that we have implemented for six years now, to really buy as much as we can locally in Malaysia and therefore, you know, really create the benefits that are associated with being an SDCI, with you know the ongoing, the expanded economic benefits certainly assists with managing you know our raw material process. And of course, we've also recognized as we talk about COVID-19 that we have had a very good six months in terms of profitability. We applied and were granted the JobKeeper subsidy in Australia at the beginning of the process. We also received some small payments from the Malaysian government of a similar sort. Given our performance in the six months to the 31st of December, we will refund those funds which were associated with those subsidies for that six months. Many on the call are watching, you know, with as much enthusiasm, what's happening in the market as we are. We have been saying for some years now that the long-term thesis for this market is positive. It's interesting that even in the time of the pandemic, that demand in the new sectors, these are the sectors that will influence industry and consumer behavior over the next decade, has continued to strengthen. Of course, this is electric vehicles, new energy solutions, consumer electronics and automation as some of the sort of key mega themes. So really, an excellent six months in terms of operating performance. We continue to demonstrate our ability to be successful, no matter what the external market conditions are. Of course, having got to here, as I've said on many occasions, we're not in the business of saying, "Oh, isn't that great? Let's now all go and have a glass of bubbly and hang out by the pool." We have a very ambitious growth plan for our company. This includes the Lynas 2025 initiative that we briefed to the market previously, specifically the Kalgoorlie Rare Earths Processing Facility. And during the six months, we were pleased to receive, you know, sort of really very pleasing support from equity capital markets to fund those activities. During the six months, we've had it confirmed that this is not a controlled action under the federal EPBC, which means that approvals rest with the Western Australian government, and we have submitted the referral to the WA EPA. Detailed engineering design is complete. We know what the project, what the facility in its finished state is going to look like. I'm loving the 3D imaging that happens these days among the engineers. We're moving very efficiently along the path of procurement of our long lead time equipment, and the kiln fabrication is underway and on schedule. And we get a great deal of joy out of seeing the pictures as they come through. We've an extensive community engagement program with the local community in Kalgoorlie, including all our stakeholders. We once again recognize and value the support that's been provided by the Kalgoorlie-Boulder City Council. We've also had some exciting news on our U.S. project. As many would know, you know, the U.S. has been absent separation capability for rare earths for many years now. This is, you know, certainly perceived to be a risk for many industries in the U.S., which is one of the reasons why the US government, via the DOD, has opted to provide grant funding to certain firms. We've previously announced, of course, that we've received phase I funding related to heavy rare earth separation, and we're delighted that in January, so this is a condition subsequent, we've received the funding for, partial funding for the development of a light rare earth separation plant. So really, in summary, a great set of numbers. I think, you know, Australia's greatest treasurer used that line at some stage, didn't he? But anyway, so a very pleasing set of numbers. And, you know, once again, rare earths are an excellent investment opportunity for exposure to the global mega trends that will shape our economies and our behaviors over the next decade. And Lynas, amongst all the opportunities, is uniquely positioned to respond to those mega trends. So with those comments, I'm very happy to take questions. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now begin the question- and- answer session. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press the pound or hash key. Once again, it is star one and wait for your name to be announced. Thank you. Our next telephone question comes from the line of Jack Gabb from BofA. Please ask your question, Jack. Hi, Amanda, well, hello again. Just wanted to get a bit more clarity, I guess, on the heavy rare earth potential in the U.S. Can you give us a bit more sense of timing there? I know you've done a lot more work on the heavy proposal than the light side. And then secondly, just any guidance you can give us on capital spending, I guess, over the next couple of years. Really, when's the bulk of the cracking leaching CapEx gonna hit the cash flow statement? Thanks. Okay. Yeah, delighted to. So the heavy rare earth timeline, we are not updating from the previous advice we've made to the market, which is that we expect to have finalized all documentation and discussions with the USG within this financial year. Our all of our engineering work is substantially complete, as far as that's concerned, but, you know, there are many issues to be dealt with for a project of this size and complexity, and we continue to work through those processes. In terms of CapEx, as you will have seen, we've started to have some CapEx spend related to Lynas 2025, particularly the Kalgoorlie Rare Earths Processing Facility. We will see some increase in that in this six months, but we expect the bulk of that capital to be expended in the next financial year. Perfect. Thanks, Amanda. I'll pass it on. Thanks, Jack. Our next telephone question comes from Dylan Kelly from Ord Minnett. Please ask your question, Dylan. Yes. Good morning, Amanda. One question from me just in regards to what's happening with pricing at the moment. What's your understanding of or Pol's understanding or his latest email around expectations post-Chinese New Year in terms of that run? Second question, just in regards to your strategy. So under what conditions or price levels are you prepared to change the strategy about where you sell? I know I'm gonna butcher this, but you've often told us that you tell Pol to make sure all these three points are: sell it, do it at a premium to the Chinese domestic price, and sell it ex-China. Are you prepared, you know, that final point about sell it ex-China, are you prepared to step into the domestic market when prices are this high? Okay. So what's happening with pricing, gold star for asking, Dylan, but I'm sure that you will understand that my most likely response is the same as it has always been, which is that we don't participate in forecasting what's gonna happen with price. What we do do is source as much market intelligence as we can on whether the price changes are have some that foundation and actual behavior or whether they are speculative. And certainly, at this time, we continue to see you know strong demand. We are seeing, as I said, you know, all of those mega trends we've all been talking about for at least you know sort of the past few years, really starting to take shape. And so you know we as always d on't get drunk on the price. You know, maybe one of the things that I'm most proud of is that despite the improvements, we have not lost our core DNA with respect to cost control and cost efficiency. And that means that we're able to bank all of the upside. There are many firms at one stage or another who, you know, sort of find themselves opening their checkbook, I think, rather more with rather more alacrity at times when times are good. So we continue to plan our business on a more conservative footing. But we would say that the market settings are strong and positive, and that the price trends have more to do with some market fundamentals than they do with some of the speculation, which is sometimes previously fueled price changes. Pol hasn't always achieved his objective, or his KPI of selling everything outside of China. We have some very good customers in China for our materials, and, and we continue to serve those customers. I know that many of you on the line have, you know, sort of, harassed me over the last six months, you know, and I'm quite a delicate petal, so. But about why, why are we running at 75%? And that's really a risk management strategy for us as we're dealing with all of the various, challenges that, operate in today's world. But on the other hand, I'm sure that many of you would be pleased that we are selling today at a price significantly higher than the AUD 40 a kilo that we would have been selling it at the beginning of this six months. So we are balancing our production, balancing our ability to manage risk in our supply chains. But we sell, we sell to strategic customers, some of whom have inside China operations, some of whom are Chinese. But of course, the bulk of our material goes to outside China markets. Okay, I understand that, Amanda, and I'm going to dig in here just on that point. If we've got a position where you're running at lower capacity and prices are where they are, yes, you can have some customers selling into it, but surely, if most of the NdFeB market growth is going to be mainland-based, doesn't that mean ultimately there's going to have to be a shift into country? Others can sell to China, in large volumes. Our objective has always been, and we have always articulated this, that our objective is to grow the outside China rare earth market, to create a strong and capable ecosystem in outside China geographies, and our strategy has always supported that process. Our choice of where to sell and when, of course, is influenced by price and the relationships with which we have with specific customers. But, you know, I don't, o ur core strategy does not change, which is that we are in the business of supporting the development of additional processing capability outside China, as well as serving our inside China customers. Very well put. Thanks, Amanda. Thanks, Dylan. Our next telephone question is from Daniel Morgan, from UBS. Please ask your question. Hi, Amanda and team. Just wondering on the decision where you're running the plant at 75%, just wondering, how do you, w hat is your decision process or what do you need to see to decide to run the plant at higher throughput levels? So look, we are assessing this on a continuous basis. We haven't lost any of the disciplines that we had in the difficult years. We still have a weekly sales and operations planning meeting. And even though we have a much nicer cash balance, we are continuing with a weekly cash flow forecast. As you would recall, part of our 75% decision related to some of the restrictions that we have for people on site, as well as some of the logistics things I talked about, and also a major piece of maintenance that we were undertaking on one of our kilns. That kiln has come back online. So certain of the MCO orders have been lifted just in the last week in Malaysia. And so, you know, we certainly are looking at opportunities to ramp up production at this time. But, you know, once again, we're very alert to ensuring that we have sufficient material, which, you know, sorry if I keep saying the same thing, really has a lot to do with shipping, and ensuring that we have sufficient material both on site for us to be able to feed that increased production. That's concentrate, it's raw materials of one sort or another, because there is no point in us, you know, ramping up and then having to dial it down again. So we're working through that process, and we would expect to be able to get some increase in our production profile as we move further out of the pandemic. We'll, we'll move on to the next question. Our next telephone question is from Trent Allen from CLSA. Please ask your question, Trent. Good morning, everyone. Congratulations on a good result. But, just, also on Malaysia, just a quick question. I'm always interested in the, in the progress of the PDF, that you're building there. I was reading, that the public commentary period has extended by a couple of weeks on that. So I was wondering if you could give any color around progress there. Also, there was some conversation, the usual noise in the newspapers there about your contractor, GSSB. Can you talk a bit more about how they were selected as the contractor? Do they have a record of other projects? And also, there was some comment that it was partly owned by the local royal family who've now divested their shares in it. Is that, is that a concern or something that we shouldn't really be thinking about? Thanks. Thanks, Trent. So yes, all of the usual suspects have popped up. I am always reminded of the IAEA report, which says that their concerns found no basis in science. So many of these, much of this commentary is, once again, speculative and not based in science. We actually have, after all of these years, pretty high degree of confidence that the Malaysian government ultimately makes its decisions based upon science. So the EIA process is an important part of the process, and it's quite interesting with some of the articles that you're referencing. You know, they talk to the fact that the EIA identifies risks. Of course, the EIA identifies risks. That's the purpose of the EIA, is to identify the risks and also to identify the mitigating actions which can be implemented and which will be implemented to ensure that the residual risk is low. The extension of time, of course, you know, once again, and it's the movement control order means that, you know, sort of exposure of the EIA, the ability to view it, all of those sorts of things, has just been given some extra time. And it allows us to continue to work with the DOE on really improving wherever possible, the quality of the document so that we can all be confident going forward. With respect to the contractor, you would have noted from the media that the site nominated by the state government will be a multi-purpose industrial waste site. Lynas will occupy a less than 30% of that site. The government nominates particular contractors to manage these types of sites. Governments anywhere nominate particular contractors to manage these types of sites. GSSB is that contractor. So we undertook our own independent due diligence on the company to understand its ability to complete the work. We satisfied ourselves on that. That was over a year ago, and we advised the ASX and the market at the time of that decision and the conditions of the contract. Very good. Thank you. Just one more. This is just a logistical question, or it's a 202-hectare site, is that right? How much of that will be for Lynas, and how much is for other uses? It's just under 30%, I think, is the, is the Lynas allocation. Okay, thank you. Our next telephone question is from Jay Ellingson, who's a private investor. Please ask your question, Jay. Hello, Jay. Hi, Amanda, it's Jay. Hi, how are you? I'm good. How are you? Are you well and healthy? I'm, you know, sort of always alert to our American friends and some of the challenges that you've had. Well, I'm doing great. We've had lots of snow, and life is good. Good. Good, good. So, hey, congratulations, not only for a great quarter, but congratulations for guiding Lynas through a very challenging political morass using integrity as your North Star. Now, I know it was probably a difficult strategy at times, but it certainly paid off. So anyway, I just thought I'd pass that along to you from a few shareholders I know. Couple of questions here. Oh, no problem. First question I have is, and I only have two, is the U.S. listing on the Nasdaq. I know it's something Lynas is gonna pursue, and I'm not, not asking you for a specific date or anything, but I was wondering if you could discuss Lynas's plans for a Nasdaq listing and your thoughts as to the implications for such a listing. Uh. Second question. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. No, go, go ahead. I'll, I'll get to it. No, no, you give me the second question as well. Okay. I'm sure you're aware of the recent freezes in Texas. You know, they've been freezing for 2, 3, 4 days, before they finally warmed up. I'm wondering if that'll alter the, Lynas plans for the separation facility, west of San Antonio. I know there's many, many pipes in a chemical plant, and I'm just wondering if that's gonna affect anything as far as you guys are concerned. Yeah. Okay. So thanks, Jay. We don't have plans for a U.S. listing at this time. You know, it is possible for U.S. investors, as you know, to invest via the, ADRs. And of course, the U.S. listing brings, significant, costs, with it, including, and some nightmares, particularly for our financial guys, with, you know, sort of other, other activities that need to be undertaken. I understand the intent of your question, which is, gosh, there's a lot of money slopping around in the U.S. looking for a home, and wouldn't it be nice if it was easy for that home to be found at Lynas? At this time, we have a watching brief on it, but we don't have any plans to list on, on the Nasdaq at this time. In terms of the snowstorm in Texas, you're right. I mean, we had a video call last week, and we had, you know, one of our people on the call was sitting there and the whole of her under the house was flooded because, you know, the pipes had frozen and then had burst. And another one of our team was sitting in a hotel because he had no electricity at home. And so, yes, we're very alert to the effects of it. On the other hand, it is a once in a I don't know how many you know sort of years it is since there's been a snowstorm in Texas. So, in and of itself, it would not cause us to reconsider the facility in Texas. Yeah, and the saving grace is, San Antonio is in southern Texas, which is closer to the equator, so it's a little warmer. Well, when I was there, I gotta tell you, it was very warm. It was, you know, about, well, I guess in Fahrenheit, you know, 100 degrees. And so it was pretty warm, which I think is- Well, it's kind of our- Generally the case. It's kind of our outback here, so. Hmm. Yes, it looked a bit familiar. But, yeah. Okay. Okay, well, thanks. That's all the questions I had. Thanks, Jay. We have a question from Daniel Morgan, from UBS. Please ask your question, Daniel. Apologies, I was on mute earlier when I was gonna ask more. Just wondering on the license to process concentrate in Malaysia, which is below your installed capacity. Just wondering, are you applying for an uplift this year, and what are the prospects of that? Thank you. Thanks, Daniel. Yes, we would like to be able to have, you know, sort of confidence in a higher number. And so therefore we are making that relevant application. We also, as you would recall, are doing a number of other things to, you know, to make sure that we use our allocation as wisely as possible, including, you know, sort of concentrate drying, so we're not shipping as much water, for example. So, and you will recall that we have, you know, advised the market previously that we do have a license approved to import above previous levels. It's a processing license, and we're working through that with the DOE. Okay. The Kalgoorlie timing, just sort of wondering, I know permitting some of that is not in your hands, but, you know, what, what do you think is a range of outcomes there? And I mean, what I'd like to know is when do you think you're going to be pouring concrete in Kalgoorlie? So we have a proposal submitted to the EPA for some early works on site. Of course, these can only be preliminary because they cannot preempt the decision on the project. So we have some very minor early works, which we've proposed to the EPA, but we expect that the kiln is going to arrive in about the middle of this year, and that's when we would expect the substantial construction to commence this calendar year. Right. And at what stage did you begin this permitting process? I mean, part of my question relates to, I mean, there's other aspirants out there thinking about building rare earth refineries. And I've, you know, I'd like to know what hurdles, if any, they have, and if you could comment on that. Plus, is there opportunities to do joint ventures to prevent, you know, CapEx duplication? Okay. So I won't talk to anybody else's, you know that. I won't talk to anybody else's challenges. Suffice to say that I think that any approvals processes for our materials is likely to be smoother than others because we have a demonstrated track record, and we have data. So we're not running spreadsheets with theoretical information. We actually have real data from operations. We've been engaged in the, you know, in ensuring that we, y ou know, the, I'm trying to think of how to answer your question about approvals. The actual length of time, and, and all of the regulatory authorities have statutory requirements for how, when they need to respond and in what order and those sorts of things. The lead time to doing that is ensuring that we have our studies completed. So there can sometimes be some things which might delay things. Like, for example, one of the things that we needed to do in Kalgoorlie was a spring flora and fauna survey. Well, that's because it's assumed that there will have been some rain. If there's been no rain, then it becomes difficult to complete a spring flora and fauna survey. And you need to find we need to find alternate ways to meet that requirement. So I can't tell you exactly how long it is, but, you know, you will recall that we presented Lynas 2025 to the market in 2019, and I think it was May 2019, and we had initial talks with the EPA just after that. Right. And just the potential for JVs, or would your plant, when you're designing it or thinking about it, you know, would you contemplate bringing in, you know, people who might just do, like, third-party material for just, you know, mining, you know, process. Most certainly. Most certainly. I think that, you know, I go back to what I was saying to Dylan about our overarching strategy is to create a vibrant and dynamic outside China rare earth ecosystem. This is good for all of us, and particularly good for Lynas. I'd just like to remind you of that. But yeah, this is good for all of us. And so the way that we are designing all of our facilities will allow us to consider accepting material from third-party sources, whether it's in the form of a concentrate or in the form of a mixed rare earth carbonate. We think that, you know, that the creating this vibrant outside China market means that we actually have to think about the way that, you know, sort of efficient use of capital that you know we need to recognize that, you know, we're dealing with a carefully planned industry within a command economy. And, you know, I hate waste in all of its forms, and so therefore finding ways that we can ensure that we have, you know, sort of an efficient outside China operation, I think is important. And that means ensuring that we allocate our capital and allocate our capability for best industry outcomes as well as best company outcomes. So, maybe just to follow up on that, the ecosystem outside China, I mean, it strikes me and, you know, obviously struck Dylan about this, about the line of his question earlier, that the outside China ecosystem is not, you know, fully in place. There doesn't seem to be much magnet-making outside of Japan. Can you maybe give us some insights into whether there's government support initiatives afoot for magnet-making and other downstream industries occurring? I mean, obviously, you're getting support in some form from the U.S. Department of Defense on your facilities. What can you say about magnet-making? I think that there is certainly people are more actively considering alternate siting of facilities than they might have done even three or four years ago. I think that with any market, you know, ultimately demand is the determinant on the market's success. But we also need to understand that logistics and capability actually plays into this. And so the ability to, say, for example, be able to process glass, which is a necessary part of the magnet-making process, is important, and it's a volatile material, so it can't be shipped huge distances. You can't just build a magnet facility in the middle of nowhere without clear, you know, sort of raw material supply into that area. It's the reason why we are confident that as we create these centers, where we are able to provide reliable supply of quality material, that some of that ecosystem development will follow. Okay. Thank you for all your answers. And I think an EV EBITDA valuation is an excellent one, Daniel. Thank you. So that, you know, if you, if you'd like a tutorial, I'm happy to do it, you know, afterwards. We have another question from Dylan Kelly from Ord Minnett. Please ask your question, Dylan. Hi, Amanda. Just want to dig into some of the topics you raised there, particularly about building out an ecosystem, perhaps even Malaysia. What's the latest on repurposing, say, the Malaysian kilns? You know, what's the current sort of top order of ideas? Surely you're just not going to let them rust out. What's the latest, or can you just walk us through what the process is from here? Well, July 2023 is quite a long way away, so we've still got a lot of work to do around what our facility looks like in Malaysia during that period, you know, following that period. You know, being able to continue to demonstrate, you know, safe operations, and certainly working actively with government entities and Malaysian-based firms around further development of the rare earth industry in Malaysia, as part of what we're doing. With respect to specifically how we'll manage our asset in Malaysia, we don't have anything to advise the market on that at this time. Okay, fair enough. Thanks. Our next telephone question comes from William Morgan, from Titan Capital. Please ask your question, William. Thanks. Amanda, can I ask about the evolving awareness of the geopolitical issues in Canberra? I appreciate your state that they haven't declared a controlled action. Maybe if they are concerned, they might have, I'm just interested in what level of anxiety or tension or pressure or concern that you're seeing in Canberra and the rate of change of that, and what they might otherwise do, pushing support on the geopolitical angle. I'm sorry, William, because the line wasn't particularly good, so I'll just repeat the question to ensure that I understand it. That we have seen to date that we have significant geopolitical interest, and are we seeing any variation in that as we move forward? Is that essentially the question? That's right, yeah. From Canberra, what, what's your observation of the evolution of their awareness of the importance of this? And I'm thinking of it from two angles. A, is in terms of how they might react in terms of support, or B, might react in terms of, seeking other, angles on it. I think that the learning curve with respect to critical minerals, of which rare earths is an element, has been quite steep in Canberra over the last two years, as it has for many governments around the world. And it was right back in, I think, March 2018, when there was the first joint declaration between the Australian government and the U.S. government on working together to further develop critical minerals and rare earths industries. There's been a number of further communiques since that time. And of course, we have engaged at all levels of government on this. I guess one of the best evidences on whether the government, the federal government, is now fully, fully engaged and supportive of this is, in the last budget, it included a AUD 1.5 billion fund to support modern manufacturing initiatives. It was across five key industries, and the first of those was critical minerals and rare earths. So I think that the Australian government is highly alert to these issues. I think that, you know, we, we have seen the issue of critical minerals and rare earths raised at, many, you know, sort of government-to-government forums, including not just people like the Five Eyes allies, but also including, for example, in India in the Quad talks, which were held in Japan, a couple of months ago. I would be confident that the Australian federal government is alert to this and very supportive of developing more value-adding onshore of the sort that we're doing in Kalgoorlie. Well, thank you. The next telephone question is from Tom, from [Summatu]. Please ask your question, Tom. Good morning, Amanda and team. I've got two questions. The first question is, in regards to getting the permits to the regulatory requirement to ramp production up to nameplate in Malaysia, do you have any kind of visibility in terms of timing? That's the first question. And the second question is, in regards to the current COVID situation, and you know, the restrictions on travel and, you know, the fact that Lynas has got expansion plans, you know, across the globe in Texas, in Malaysia, and in Australia. How has that affected senior management's ability to, I guess, oversee and manage this process since, you know, it's tough to get around all the different locations, and it's nothing like being on the ground to actually see what's going on? How do you manage senior allocation, senior management's, I guess, where they're based and how, you know, moving around, how do you think about that? Has there been any impact? Thanks for that. Thanks, Tom. No, I can't give you any more indication on the timing on the permits in Malaysia. Unfortunately, despite the fact that I might like to think that I can rule the world, you know, in some ways, of course, I cannot, and I never comment on government timelines because governments have their own processes and procedures to follow. With respect to the challenges offered to us from a management perspective with COVID, we certainly, I think we're fortunate that our senior executive team has been working together for many years now, and we know each other. We mostly like each other. But we certainly know and understand each other and have spent a lot of time in each other's company. Even though our interactions are now necessarily more often via video or audio conference than they are face-to-face, I would say that our well-established relationships have allowed us to deliver the sort of results that we've been able to deliver. We did in about mid-last year change our org structure a little so that Pol Le Roux, who is resident in Malaysia, took accountability for all of our downstream operations, including the Malaysian facility, as well as our sales and marketing effort. And Kam Leung, who is a resident in Perth, has accountability for all of our upstream operations, including Mount Weld and the Kalgoorlie Rare Earths Processing Facility project. Certainly we have some, you know, sort of the inability to jump on a plane does mean that it puts at a greater premium the quality of our diligence and project planning capability. And it also reminds us of the importance of ensuring that our people who execute have proper support and experience to be able to do the task. But even in the U.S., one of the reasons why we have chosen to partner with a U.S.-based firm is exactly the same, you know, life lesson that we've had in Malaysia, which is you need to be part of the local community, not just a fly-in. And so, you know, we've always been proud of the fact that in Malaysia, over 97% of our staff are Malaysians. So Lynas Malaysia is truly a Malaysian developed and managed business. So I think our understanding of the importance of localization within our global strategy is, you know, sort of a key part of our success and part of our ability to manage despite the challenges of COVID. Once again, it is star one if you wish to ask a question. There are no more further questions at this time. I'd like to hand the call back to today's presenters for closing remarks. Please continue. Okay. So once again, thank you all. As I said, I am delighted with our results, and I think that they are an excellent indication of no matter what the market conditions are, that Lynas has developed the capability to deliver excellent outcomes for all of our stakeholders. Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude the call for today. I believe you may all disconnect and have a great day.