Kodal Minerals reports strong Bougouni cash flow as lithium production gains momentum

And you can see that we, you know, it's as you say, it's a rarity for a a junior to be able to post a profit, particularly in the first six months of steady operation.

Welcome back inside our proactive newsroom and joining me now is Bernard Alward, he's the CEO of Kodal Minerals. And Bernard, it's good to see you again. How are you?

Yeah, I'm great, Steve. Thanks for having me back.

Yeah, good to have you along. Excited because you've uh you've released your your interim results and uh it's an exciting time for the company because you've become profitable and it's uh it's a few companies that can actually in your business say that. So, first off, congratulations on that and overall your thoughts on it.

Yeah, thanks very much. Look, we're really we're really happy with how we're going at Baguni and uh it's a fantastic result for us and you know, the codo involvement goes right back to 2016 and for us to take it all the way through from expiration, development, financing and now mining, it's a really great achievement for our team.

And the Baguni operation is performing well. Uh and you can see that we, you know, it's as you said, it's a rarity for a a junior to be able to post a profit, particularly in the first six months of steady operation and uh things are going really well and most importantly, you know, we're generating real cash. Um we're continuing to export our Spodamine product, and all that is clear when you look at the accounts and you see profit, you see cash, and you see a really good operation.

So, let's talk about the operation. Tell me how things are are looking there and and really what the priorities are moving forward.

Yeah, sure. Look, we're happy with the progress at Baguni. We're steady state production. We would like to get a little bit higher, but you know, every operation can still undergo more fine tuning and we're continuing to work on that. We are sending out regular shipments of lithium concentrate to our offtake partner in China. had a very steady production and regular exports highlighting that the some of the issues people thought about Mali really aren't really aren't impacting us. We have all access to diesel as required, explosives as required. Our export route is functioning well. We're generating, we're getting paid, money's coming in and we're able to send money out. So in terms of the operation, functioning well.

Room for improvement, of course, and that's a goal for us. strategy for Baguni is to continue focus on the Anguana pit and improvement of the DMS DMS processing plant. But more importantly, we are looking to continue the expansion of the project and looking to finalize planning for the stage two flotation plant and looking by the end of this year, getting ourselves to an investment decision there.

Yeah. Um, talk to me a bit about the market conditions because you mentioned obviously you're profitable now, so the better they are, the better the profit. So I'm wondering, uh, how is the market these days and and where do you see it heading?

Look, we've been very uh happy with the lithium price. We started exporting in November 2023. The price was sitting just below $1,000 a ton and we were exporting into a rising market. Uh recently, it got over $2,200 to $2,300 a ton. It's come back a little bit now into around the $1,800 sector. But when I compare that to our costs, Steve, we're producing at around $600 a ton, that's a great margin and we're very pleased with that and obviously the lithium price is supporting our profitability. Where we see the market trending is obviously uh reflecting the increasing demand for our product, both through so battery lithium iron batteries, EVs, battery electric storage systems, massive take up in the battery uh electric storage systems from use in homes, uh communities to regional grids and major infrastructure projects are driving significant increase in demand. So, we're in a sector where we see a long-term future. We see a long-term uh increase in demand and at the moment we don't see a particularly huge inrush of supply. So we're in a on a good market.

Okay, and that really sets up what's ahead for the rest of this year and beyond. So, talk to me a bit about uh sort of your priorities.

Yeah, look, my priorities are sort of split a little bit. Number one, at Baguni, which is our main asset and you know, we're a shareholder, uh we work with our partner there. Our objective there is to make sure we continue this path to becoming a steady regular supplier of our spoming product that our exports continue, that we maintain our focus on costs at the DMS plant. and secondly, that we work uh very hard on the stage two development and being able to approve that construction. That opens up for us potential to start expanding Baguni to over a 14, 15 year mine life, major producer and long-life operation that will underpin the growth of Codel. Secondly, as Codel PLC separate, we continue to look for other opportunities to grow our company. We've obviously had success with Baguni and we look to replicate that. We've got some expertise that will allow us to leverage that and we've got cash backing that will allow us to get into projects and uh work very quickly to prove them up to other opportunities for mining.

Exciting times ahead. It sounds like Bernard. Congratulations on the success. I know it's taken a lot of work to get here, but it's exciting that you are. So, good to see you again. Thanks very much.

Thanks thanks very much Steve. Yeah, thanks very much. very exciting for us and we're very very pleased to share it with our shareholders. Thanks and speak to you again soon.

Sounds good. Bernard Alward, the CEO of Kodal Minerals.