Electra Battery Materials Corporation Q4 FY2022 earnings call

• Fourth quarter was busy with commencement of black mass trial, progress on cobalt sulfate refinery, acquisition of Cat project, and filing of new resource estimate.
• Earnings per share was $0.31 for the quarter, driven by fair value gain on derivative liability and impairment reversals.
• Cash position at year end was $8.4 million, down from $19.7 million in Q3, with capital deployed into refinery project and other studies.
• Refinery progress: commissioned lab, feed material handling system, solvent extraction building, and 95% of procurement completed; site has 31 personnel and zero lost time incidents.
• Black mass trial launched in December 2022, aiming to ship first product in Q2, with plans to continue demonstration plant into August and work on larger scale facility.

No detailed product segment financials with absolute revenue and contribution % provided in the transcript. Key activities include progress on refinery and black mass trial.

• Withdrew guidance related to refinery project completion due to supply chain issues and damaged equipment.
• Rebaselining engineering report expected in Q2, with final estimated capital higher than previous $105M due to inflationary pressures and supply chain delays.
• Look forward to providing updates on refinery project timelines and capital requirements soon.

• Supply chain issues and delays in equipment delivery.
• Inflationary pressures affecting contractor labor rates, raw material costs, and delay costs.
• Damage to equipment during transport, leading to potential delays and additional costs.
• Commodity price volatility, although relatively immune in margin-based refining model but impacts black mass business.

Q: Your capital spend was higher than expected, can you provide color on components and damaged equipment?

A: Damaged equipment was a large vessel in crystallization circuit, with insurance claim; inflation and supply chain delays caused increased costs.

Q: When will you make a decision about starting a recycling plant and costs?

A: Continue demo plant, expect desktop review of CapEx and OpEx in Q2 using live data from demonstration plan.

Q: Color on black mass contracts and MHP clients?

A: Black mass feedstock from 20+ partners, MHP product sold to Glencore with high quality, primary clients for MHP include Glencore, and ongoing dialogue with China Moly and LG Energy regarding cobalt sulfate delivery.