The Canadian stock market has been experiencing a robust year, with the TSX up over 17%, mirroring the positive trends seen in other major indices like the S&P 500. As investors navigate these buoyant conditions, attention often turns to identifying stocks that can leverage current economic strengths. Penny stocks, though an older term in investment circles, still represent a compelling area for those seeking growth opportunities in smaller or newer companies with strong financial foundations.

Top 10 Penny Stocks In Canada

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Questerre Energy

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Overview: Questerre Energy Corporation is an energy technology and innovation company focused on acquiring, exploring, and developing non-conventional oil and gas projects in Canada, with a market cap of CA$117.84 million.

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Market Cap: CA$117.84M

Questerre Energy, with a market cap of CA$117.84 million, is focused on non-conventional oil and gas projects in Canada. Recent developments include the initiation of new drilling programs at Kakwa North and Central, which could impact future production levels. Although currently unprofitable, Questerre has managed to reduce its losses over the past five years by 2.4% annually. The company maintains a strong balance sheet with short-term assets exceeding both short- and long-term liabilities, and it holds more cash than total debt. However, its share price remains highly volatile compared to most Canadian stocks.

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TSX:QEC Debt to Equity History and Analysis as at Oct 2024Santacruz Silver Mining

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Overview: Santacruz Silver Mining Ltd. is involved in the acquisition, exploration, development, and operation of mineral properties in Latin America, with a market cap of CA$140.56 million.

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Market Cap: CA$140.56M

Santacruz Silver Mining, with a market cap of CA$140.56 million, has recently become profitable, supported by operations across several Latin American sites. The company’s financial health is bolstered by short-term assets exceeding both short- and long-term liabilities. Despite a large one-off gain impacting recent earnings, Santacruz’s return on equity remains outstanding at 101.4%. However, the share price has been highly volatile over recent months. A recent executive change saw Andres Bedregal appointed as interim CFO following Gregg Orr’s resignation, potentially influencing future strategic directions and financial management practices within the company.

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TSXV:SCZ Financial Position Analysis as at Oct 2024Taranis Resources

Simply Wall St Financial Health Rating: ★★★★★★

Overview: Taranis Resources Inc. is an exploration stage company focused on acquiring, exploring, and developing precious and base metal deposits in Canada with a market cap of CA$47.82 million.

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Market Cap: CA$47.82M

Taranis Resources Inc., with a market cap of CA$47.82 million, remains pre-revenue as it focuses on exploration activities in Canada. The company has strengthened its financial position through recent private placements totaling CA$299,999.9, enhancing its cash runway beyond a year despite being unprofitable. Short-term assets exceed both short- and long-term liabilities, indicating stable financial health. However, shareholder dilution occurred over the past year with shares outstanding increasing by 5.3%. Recent challenges include resuming exploration at the Thor deposit after a wildfire affected operations but left core infrastructure intact and ready for continuation.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Companies discussed in this article include TSX:QEC TSXV:SCZ and TSXV:TRO.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

Freeport-McMoRan (NYSE:FCX) Third Quarter 2024 ResultsKey Financial Results

• Revenue: US$6.79b (up 17% from 3Q 2023).

• Net income: US$526.0m (up 17% from 3Q 2023).

• Profit margin: 7.7% (in line with 3Q 2023).

• EPS: US$0.36 (up from US$0.31 in 3Q 2023).

earnings-and-revenue-growth

All figures shown in the chart above are for the trailing 12 month (TTM) period

Freeport-McMoRan Revenues Beat Expectations, EPS Falls Short

Revenue exceeded analyst estimates by 5.1%. Earnings per share (EPS) missed analyst estimates by 6.5%.

Looking ahead, revenue is forecast to grow 5.9% p.a. on average during the next 3 years, compared to a 5.9% growth forecast for the Metals and Mining industry in the US.

Performance of the American Metals and Mining industry.

The company's shares are up 2.6% from a week ago.

Balance Sheet Analysis

Just as investors must consider earnings, it is also important to take into account the strength of a company's balance sheet. We've done some analysis and you can see our take on Freeport-McMoRan's balance sheet.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

• EBITDA: $2.7 billion for the third quarter.

• Operating Cash Flows: $1.9 billion for the third quarter.

• Copper Sales Volume: Exceeded guidance for the quarter.

• Gold Sales Volume: Exceeded guidance for the quarter.

• Unit Net Cash Cost: $1.58 per pound for 2024, below the previous estimate of $1.63 per pound.

• Cerro Verde Share Purchase: 5.3 million shares purchased for $210 million, increasing ownership to 55%.

• Copper Price Range (LME): $3.91 to $4.47 per pound during the quarter.

• Capital Expenditures: Forecasted at $3.6 billion for 2024 and $4.2 billion for 2025.

• Projected Annual EBITDA: $11 billion at $4 copper, $15 billion at $5 copper.

• Projected Operating Cash Flows: Over $7 billion at $4 copper, $10.5 billion at $5 copper.

• Warning! GuruFocus has detected 4 Warning Signs with PII.

Release Date: October 22, 2024

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

Positive Points

• Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) reported strong financial performance with $2.7 billion in EBITDA and $1.9 billion in operating cash flows for the third quarter.

• Sales volumes for both copper and gold exceeded guidance, contributing to favorable unit cash cost performance.

• The company increased its ownership in the Cerro Verde asset from 53.6% to 55%, enhancing its stake in a high-quality asset.

• Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) is advancing its innovative leach technologies, which have shown a 70% increase in incremental copper production compared to the previous year.

• The company is well-positioned for long-term growth with a large reserve and resource position, and ongoing initiatives to expand low-cost copper volumes in the Americas.

Negative Points

• A fire incident at the new smelter in Indonesia has temporarily suspended start-up activities, potentially impacting concentrate exports.

• The company faces challenges with high unit cash costs in North America, which are currently above $3 per pound.

• There is uncertainty regarding the timeline for repairs and resumption of operations at the Indonesian smelter.

• Freeport-McMoRan Inc (NYSE:FCX) is subject to a restricted cash policy in Indonesia, requiring 30% of export proceeds to be held in local banks for 90 days.

• The company is dealing with lower grades in North America, which has impacted cost efficiency and requires ongoing efforts to improve asset productivity.

Q & A Highlights

Q: Can you provide details on the insurance coverage for the smelter fire in Indonesia and any potential business interruption? A: Kathleen Quirk, President and CEO, explained that the insurance policy covers repair costs but does not include business interruption coverage. The company is focused on completing repairs quickly and is in discussions with the Indonesian government to ensure continuity of concentrate exports.

Q: Regarding the $1 billion of restricted cash in Indonesia, will this policy continue after the smelter ramps up? A: Kathleen Quirk stated that the restricted cash policy applies to all exports in Indonesia and will continue unless regulations change. The cash is held temporarily for 90 days and earns returns while in deposit.

Q: What is the expected timeline for repairs to the smelter in Indonesia, and how is the government reacting? A: Kathleen Quirk mentioned that the timeline for repairs is still being assessed, but the government has been supportive. The company is working to expedite repairs and ensure continued exports, with the government understanding the economic benefits of continuity.

Q: Are there plans to increase Freeport’s stake in Cerro Verde, and what is the strategy for share buybacks? A: Kathleen Quirk noted that increasing the stake in Cerro Verde was opportunistic, and the company is open to further purchases if opportunities arise. Freeport will continue share buybacks as part of its cash allocation framework, balancing shareholder returns and organic growth.

Q: How does Freeport view larger-scale M&A opportunities in the sector? A: Richard Adkerson, Chairman of the Board, stated that while M&A is not fundamental to Freeport’s strategy, the company is prepared to respond to opportunities. The focus remains on organic growth, but they are monitoring market activity and potential opportunities.

For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

Participants

David Joint; Vice President – Investor Relations; Freeport-McMoRan Inc

Richard Adkerson; Chairman of the Board; Freeport-McMoRan Inc

Kathleen Quirk; President and Chief Executive Officer; Freeport-McMoRan Inc

Joshua Olmsted; President and Chief Operating Officer – Americas; Freeport-McMoRan Inc

Chris LaFemina; Analyst; Jefferies

Liam Fitzpatrick; Analyst; Deutsche Bank

Bob Brackett; Analyst; Bernstein Research

Michael Dudas; Analyst; Vertical Research Partners

Orest Wowkodaw; Analyst; Scotiabank GBM

Daniel Major; Analyst; UBS Equities

Lawson Winder; Analyst; BofA Global Research

Bennett Moore; Analyst; JPMorgan

Presentation

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Freeport-McMoRan third-quarter 2024 conference call. (Operator Instructions). I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. David Joint, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

David Joint

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the Freeport conference call. Earlier this morning, Freeport reported its third quarter 2024 operating and financial results. A copy of today's press release with supplemental schedules and slides is available on our website, fcx.com. Today's conference call is being broadcast live on the Internet. Anyone may listen to the conference call by accessing our website home page and clicking on the webcast link. In addition to analysts and investors, the financial press has been invited to listen to its call. A replay of the webcast will be available on our website later today. Before we begin our comments, we'd like to remind everyone that today's press release and certain of our comments on the call include non-GAAP measures in forward-looking statements. and actual results may differ materially. Please refer to the cautionary language included in our press release and slides and to the risk factors described in our SEC filings, all of which are available on our website. Also on the call with me today are Richard Adkerson, Chairman of the Board; Kathleen Quirk, President and Chief Executive Officer; Maree Robertson, Executive Vice President and CFO; and other senior members of our management team. Richard will make some opening remarks. Kathleen will review our slide materials and then we'll open up the call for questions. Richard?

Richard Adkerson

Thanks, David, and thanks, everyone, for joining us. It was a solid quarter, as you can see, and that's the result of the good work that our global Freeport team has accomplished and really proud of them and look forward to the future. We've got a great outlook for our company, great outlook long term for copper and commodity that we base our strategy on. So Kathleen will review with you the results of the quarter and talk about it, and we're making progress with this as far we had at our new smelter in Indonesia, and we'll review that as well. We have a new President in Indonesia, Prabowo Subianto. Prabowo was a general three decades ago, we work together closely on issues affecting our operations in Papua. He knows our business. He's appointed cabinet, which includes a number of cabinet members from Joko Widodo's cabinet and other people that we've known over the years. We look forward to working with him and believe his understanding of our business and of our location in Papua will be a big benefit as we work with his administration going forward. Kathleen, I'll turn the call over to you to review our results and our outlook.

Kathleen Quirk

Okay. Great. Thank you, Richard, and I'm going to start on our slide presentation, starting on slide 3 with our highlights for the third quarter and first nine months of 2024. Our team continues to deliver on our operating plans and pursue value through enhancing efficiencies, managing costs aggressively, and building value in our organic growth portfolio. You'll see here, we generated strong margins and cash flows during the quarter with $2.7 billion in EBITDA and $1.9 billion in operating cash flows. Our operating performance was supported by sales volumes exceeding guidance for both copper and gold and favorable unit cash cost performance compared to both our guidance and the year ago quarter. We're focused on initiatives to build value from organic growth. At Freeport, we benefit from a large reserve and resource position with near-term, medium-term, and longer-term embedded growth options. The high potential innovative leach technologies are delivering results, and we've several ongoing initiatives to add scale and low-cost copper volumes in our Americas business. In the first nine months of 2024, the incremental copper production from our Reach initiative was nearly 70% higher than the comparable period last year, and we have additional projects underway to build scale and improve on our US cost position. We're also advancing our brownfield expansion opportunities, position the business for long-term growth to supply a market with increased requirements for copper. During the third quarter, we purchased 5.3 million shares of Cerro Verde in at market transactions on the Peruvian Stock Exchange at a cost of $210 million, and that allowed us to increase our ownership in this highly attractive asset from the prior level of 53.6% to 55%. The [positive flow] of Cerro Verde now represents about 4.3% of the outstanding shares. We ended the quarter in a strong position financially. And as we look forward, we're very optimistic about the markets we serve, our portfolio of high-quality copper assets, and the future prospects for strong cash flow generation to support investments and value-enhancing projects and returns to shareholders. We'll talk about markets on slide 4. Copper prices again during the third quarter traded in a broad range. On the LME, they ranged between $3.91 and $4.47 per pound. And on the COMEX exchange range from $3.94 per pound to $4.66 per pound. The settlement pricers on the LME for the quarter averaged $4.18 per pound. As we look at the quarter and where prices traded, they largely followed macro sentiment, which weighed global economic data and economic pressures in China against actions by the Fed and other central banks to cut interest rates and the potential for large economic stimulus in China. At the micro level, we continue to see secular demand trends associated with electrification, providing strong demand for copper and offsetting the impact of a cyclical slowdown. In the US, our customers continue to report strong demand for power cable and building wire associated with substantial investment in electrical infrastructure and AI data centers. This growing sector more than offset weakness in traditional demand sectors in residential construction and autos. Demand from China continues to be supported by significant investments in the electrical grid and continued growth in China's production of electric vehicles. Notably, China's demand for copper continues to grow despite a weak property sector. Recent announcements for economic stimulus in China to support the country's economic growth targets could provide further support for metals demand as we move through 2024 and into 2025. As we've discussed in the past, Copper is a foundational metal and a key component of electrification. It's physical characteristics and superior connectivity, make it essential to electrification. New massive investment in the power grid, renewable generation, technology infrastructure and transportation are driving increased demand for copper and forecast call for above-trend growth and demand for the foreseeable future. As we look at these fundamentals of demand and match it up with supply, we continue to see a tightly balanced market in the near term and deficit conditions longer run. This is going to require new investments and innovative technologies to build supplies longer term. And at Freeport, were driven a supply copper reliably and responsibly to a growing market. With our leading industry position, our large-scale current operations and our future growth pipeline, we're well positioned to benefit from this fundamental outlook for copper. I remind everyone that in addition to copper, we're also a major gold producer and are benefiting from increasing gold prices. We'll turn to operations on slide 5, where we summarize the quarterly operating results by geographic region. In the US, we are continuing to take actions to improve efficiencies and cost performance to mitigate the impact of lower grades. We have more work to do, but recent trends are improving. We're closely monitoring key performance indicators and seeing positive trends in recent months in asset efficiency associated with key areas of loading, hauling, crushing, [that] and stacking. Our equipment reliability is a focus area, and we're making strides in reducing unplanned downtime. We're also rationalizing the use of contractors to reduce costs and allocated internal resources to our key focus areas. In addition, success in our leach in initiative and further scaling incremental low-cost production will also drive reductions in our cost structure. In South America, the team at the Cerro Verde operation posted another solid quarter. Mill throughput exceeded 420,000 metric tons of ore per day during the quarter, and our mill recovery improved from last year's third quarter. Our unit net cash costs were slightly less than last year's third quarter, after excluding the $0.12 per pound nonrecurring charge in the quarter for a new labor agreement. After reaching agreement with Cerro Verde's second union, we now have multiyear labor agreements covering Cerro Verde's hourly workforce mentioned earlier, we purchased additional Cerro Verde shares that gives us more exposure to this established long-lived and high-quality assets. In Indonesia, results were quite strong, and that's evidenced by a unit net cash credit of $0.71 per pound. The team is consistently delivering strong volumes of both copper and gold from our large-scale underground ore bodies. Our sales in the quarter were higher than our estimates going into the period with increased mill rates and oil grades. We also benefited from strong gold sales in the quarter, reflecting good production performance and a reduction in inventory from June 30 levels. Our near-term focus areas include continued strong execution of our operating plans, commissioning of a value-driven copper cleaning circuit at our site in Papua to support strong mill recoveries and commissioning the precious metals refinery. We're also working to restore smelter operations following the recent smelter fire event, which we'll talk about more on the next slide. Just an update on where we are with the smelter. We made good progress during the third quarter on our commissioning and start-up. This is a project that our team managed construction in a challenging market in a very effective manner. But we did experience a setback last week on October 14 from a fire incident in a gas cleaning facility used in the sulfuric acid production process. Our safety protocols were effective, and the fire was extinguished in a short period of time without injury to our personnel. Start-up activities have been temporarily suspended as a result while we conduct damage and root-cause assessments and develop our recovery plans. We've presented a picture on the slide that you can review. But as you can see, the incident affected a relatively small area of the overall project. We have teams actively engaged in planning the repairs and assessing lead times for replacement equipment. We expect that the repair cost will be covered by our insurance programs, and we're also working with the Indonesian government on continuity of concentrate exports during the outage. Our mining operations in Papua have not been impacted and our team is focused on restoring smelter operations safely and expeditiously. We look forward to achieving our objective of being a fully integrated producer in Indonesia which positions us to secure a long-term extension of our operating rights there. We'll continue to be very excited about our innovative leach initiative. On slide 7, you can see that early results continue to indicate significant value potential. Just a reminder, we achieved our initial targeted run rate of 200 million pounds per annum of copper per annum at the end of last year and are now driving initiatives, to scale this initiative to 300 million to 400 million pounds per annum in the next couple of years. Ultimately, our goal was to achieve 800 million pounds per annum from this value-enhancing growth initiative. This is the size of a major new mine with low capital investment required, low incremental operating costs, and that will significantly enhance the value and competitive position of our Americas production. You can see on the slide, the significant growth in incremental volumes from these initiatives over the last several quarters, our results have been achieved by enhancing heat retention and the leach stockpiles using data from sensors and analytics to identify targets and through deploying new operational tactics to direct solution injection to areas that were previously inaccessible. We continue to build confidence in boosting the run rate to 300 million to 400 million pounds per year during 2026. Some of the examples of the initiatives that are now underway that allow volumes in the future, including expanding our surface area under leach by using helicopters to install irrigation in areas previously inaccessible under conventional techniques, and by scaling our targeted solution injection wells. We're making great progress on our leach injection technology, great progress on our drilling. We're drilling much more efficiently, and we're able to increase the rate of well development. In parallel, we're also advancing innovation-driven initiatives which would support our ultimate objective of reaching 800 million pounds per annum. We believe there's significant opportunity from increasing heat to the stockpiles. We're looking at adding heat to the leach solution using external energy or using pyrite [hosted ores] to generate additional heat. Heat is a proven source to improve recoveries in this type of application. We're also continuing to advance testing of new additives at scale, and we look forward to reporting to you on our progress on these initiatives. On Freeport, we're really well positioned to capture the value of this opportunity with an extensive inventory of substantial residual copper from materiality mine, an industry-leading technical team with expertise in leaching technology and a strong multidisciplined innovation team dedicated to this initiative. We've got additional opportunities for growth beyond the leach opportunity, and you can see that on slide 8, where we missed our organic growth projects. All of these projects are brownfield opportunities where we're leveraging existing assets and established operations. The leach out initiative that we just talked about is our best opportunity to grow in the near term, and we're pursuing this initiative very aggressively. In the US, we also have opportunities for expansion at our Bagdad and Safford Lone Star operations. And at Bagdad, we're advancing investments in automation, tailings, and energy infrastructure and expanded employee housing in this remote location to position us to execute the project more efficiently when the time is right. We don't have major permitting hurdles and this is really a straightforward option. We're monitoring conditions and progress with our derisking initiatives and continue to expect to be in a position to make a decision next year on the expansion plans. In the Safford Lone Star District, where we have a very large resource, we're engaged in studies to define a brownfield expansion. We're targeting opportunities to more than double current production levels which are currently around 300 million pounds per annum. The large resource that we have at this location, it gives us an opportunity for Safford Lone Star to become a generational cornerstone asset for Freeport and Arizona in the next decade. At El Abra, in Chile, this is our partnership with Codelco. We've — as we previously reported, we completed pre-feasibility studies, and we're in the process of preparing an environmental impact statement which we expect to be completed by the end of next year. The project involves investment in a new concentrator of scale similar to the size of Cerro Verde that we installed nearly 10 years ago, investments in the desalinization and pipeline system to support our water requirements. This project is large. It would provide 750 million pounds of annual copper production and 9 million pounds of annual molybdenum production. It's a long lead project. It would require something on the order of seven to eight years because of the time frame for permitting in Chile. And we're going to continue to review economics in the context of market conditions, but we believe this is a project that will be required in the future to support long-term copper demand trends, and this is a project in our portfolio that Freeport can execute. In Indonesia, we continue to progress our large-scale Kucing Liar development. This is a very large ore body adjacent to our existing operations, our existing ore bodies in Papua. We expect to commence production by 2030. We're also conducting exploration below our deep MLZ ore body. We're getting encouraging results. We expect that an extension of our operating rights in Indonesia beyond 2041 will set us up for additional long-term development options in this highly attractive district. By pursuing all of these initiatives and advancing them we're really focused on building optionality for future growth. We're going to continue to be disciplined in our approach and focused on targeting opportunities that can be executed over time that enhance long-term value. Our slide 9 shows our three-year outlook, which we show every quarter and keep updated. This is the outlook for sales of copper, gold, and molybdenum and that you'll see the sales guidance is very similar to our previous outlook. We also have updated our estimates for our unit net cash cost, we expect our average for 2024 to approximate $1.58 per pound. That is below our July estimate of $1.63 per pound and similar to our guidance at the start of the year of $1.60 per pound. We've got some details of this information by region on slide 19 and the reference materials. So as we move to cash flows and margins and cash flows and putting together our projected volumes and cost projections on slide 9 — slide 10, we show modeled results for EBITDA and cash flow at various copper prices ranging from $4 to $5 per pound. These are modeled results using the average of 2025 and 2026 with our current volume projections and cost estimates and holding gold flat at $2,600 per ounce and molybdenum flat at $20 per pound. You'll see here that annual EBITDA at $4 copper would range from $11 billion, and it would go to approximately $15 billion per annum at $5 copper. Our operating cash flows at these product ranges would be over $7 billion at $4 copper to $1.5 billion at $5 copper. We've got sensitivities that we've presented on the right of this chart. You'll note that we're highly leveraged to copper price with each $0.10 per pound equating to about $420 million in annual EBITDA. We're also leveraged to gold and will benefit from improving gold prices with each $100 change in gold prices approximating $150 million in annual EBITDA. With long-live reserves, large-scale production, Freeport is well positioned to generate substantial cash flow to fund future organic growth and cash returns under our performance-based payout framework. Moving to the next slide, on slide 11, we're showing our current forecast for capital expenditures for this year and next. Capital expenditures for 2024 are forecast at about $3.6 billion, and we estimate capital expenditures for next year to total about $4.2 billion. You'll see there have been some timing shifts between the two years, but over the two years, the changes are not material. We'll note that the discretionary projects over this two-year period totaled $2.5 billion. This is a category that reflects the capital investments we're making in new projects that under our financial policy are funded with the 50% of available cash that's not distributed. They're value-enhancing projects, growth projects provide good returns, and they're detailed on slide 23 in our reference materials. As we look forward, we're going to continue to be disciplined in deploying capital and really focused on those opportunities that build value in our business. And finally, on slide 12, we reiterate the financial policy priorities centered on a strong balance sheet, cash returns to shareholders in investments in value-enhancing growth projects. We've got a very solid balance sheet, investment-grade ratings from all three agencies, strong credit metrics and flexibility within our debt targets to execute on projects. We've distributed $4.5 billion to shareholders through dividends and share purchases since implementing this framework got a very attractive future long-term portfolio that will enable us to continue to build value for shareholders. Our global team is very focused on driving value. We're committed to strong execution of our plans, providing cash to invest in profitable growth and returns to shareholders. Thanks for everyone for your attention. And now I would like to open the call to take your questions.

Question and Answer Session

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Chris LaFemina, Jefferies.

Chris LaFemina

Thanks, operator. Hi Kathleen, hi Richard, I hope you're doing well. Just wanted to ask a couple of questions about Indonesia. And first, on smelter fire with the insurance. Kathleen, you mentioned that the insurance would cover the costs for repairs. What if there is a situation where there's a delay to being able to export concentrate. Do you have any business interruption insurance that might cover the cost of loss shipments or any insurance that might cover the incremental royalties that you had have to pay on concentrate on exports?

Kathleen Quirk

Yeah. the policy that we're referring to is a construction insurance policy that does not have business interruption coverage. It does cover the cost of the repairs. This is not a — as you can see from the picture, it's not a big area the affected facilities. It is an essential area. The process is essential to the overall production of copper refining of copper, but it's not a large part of the overall facility. So our focus, Chris, really is getting the repairs done as quickly as possible. We do have discussions with the government. It's in everyone's interest that concentrate continue. We do have some flexibility within our existing quota of what we can ship through 2024, but we'll be asking for additional flexibility to make sure that we can ship everything that we produce in 2024. And then depending on the time frame that it takes to restore operations, we'll work with the governments for continuity in the portion of 2025 that will be affected. It's in everyone's interest. As you run through the math, the government gets essentially through taxes and royalties and dividends over 70% of the economics or the cash flow. So it will be in everyone's interest for this to continue, and we'll work hard to get this operation restored as quickly as possible. But in the interim, we expect that we'll continue to be able to export.

Chris LaFemina

Very good. Thanks. And then just secondly, on Indonesia as well. So the $1 billion of restricted cash, which I think is what, 30% of the export proceeds and it's held for 90 days in Indonesian banks. Does that restricted cash policy continue even after the smelter ramps up? And can you just remind us of kind of the background behind that and what the reason for that cash restriction is? Thanks.

Kathleen Quirk

Yeah. Chris, it refers to all exports. So it doesn't just affect copper, and it affects all exports in Indonesia required to hold in bank accounts for 90 days temporarily your export proceeds. And it was a measure taken last year by the government to look at its currency and fiscal situation. And so it don't — not only applies to us, but implies the oil companies and other people that are exporting. So that will continue unless the regulation has changed that will continue beyond 2020 — beyond the smelter startup. So — but it is there. We're earning — we're earning returns on the investments. It's there temporarily. We withdraw it after 90 days. And so it's — right now, it's just held in deposit. But that's something that the government will continue to consider in light of its objectives.

Chris LaFemina

That's very helpful. Thank you for that.

Operator

Liam Fitzpatrick with Deutsche Bank.

Kathleen Quirk

Good morning.

Liam Fitzpatrick

Good morning, Kath. A couple more on the smelter, I'm afraid. Firstly, I appreciate you're still assessing the situation, but can you give some high-level guidance on the length of delay that we're talking about? Is it 3 months? Could it be substantially longer than that. And then in terms of the government reaction, do you think — and the export extension, do you think this will be just a formality and received in good time? Or could there be a risk that it could be delayed beyond the year end? And then a quick one, just separate to the smelter on the Cerro Verde stake increase its small, but probably the best type of M&A that you can do. Is this a one-off? Or do you think there could be more opportunities to increase your stake? Thank you.

Kathleen Quirk

Thanks, Liam. On the time frame for the repairs, we don't have that information yet. This is an event that happened essentially a week ago. And our teams have been on the ground inspecting the damaged equipment, determining what needs to be replaced what does not need to be replaced, and we're working in parallel with our vendors on understanding lead times for various equipment. The early results in terms of the area affected, not everything on the structure was damaged. We were fortunate we did not have big impacts to structural steel. There will be some equipment and piping that needs to be replaced. And so we're just working through that right now, trying to understand what the lead times are for this equipment. This is not equipment off the shelf. So will need to be fabricated and we'll work quickly. The fortunate thing is right now, it's not a time in the market where supply chains are real tight. So we're getting really good response from our vendors, working to understand the root cause of this and when the vendors are involved in that exercise with us as well — but — so we don't have a specific time frame other than to assure you that we've got the right teams in place. We've got the right organization that's working through this in a professional way to expedite what we can and get this back up and running so that we can achieve our start-up goals. The government has been supportive. They sent — we have our own fire department there at the site. But the government also sent support and has been very supportive. They've been looking also the police is normal procedure looking at the investigation of the causes, and we're collaborating on that exercise as well. I think if you look at the world and these smelters, this is not the first time there's been a fire in Indonesia, the people that we are talking with understand the hazards involved in these types of operations. We're working hard and designing these operations so that they don't have hazards, but if you look at history, there have been other similar type incidents. So they understand it, they understand our good faith and getting the smelter completed. And they also understand the economics that this continuity will benefit them as we go forward. So I think we'll just continue to work collaboratively to make sure that all of the impacts of this are mitigated and they can be mitigated through insurance and through continued exports. And that's what we want to make sure that we do to every extent possible is mitigate the impact of this incident. With the Cerro Verde question, Cerro verde has a public market that trades in a relatively small float the trades on the Peruvian Stock Exchange. And so we're interested in buying more if there's opportunities to do it. There were some funds that were interested in selling, and we were able to pick up those shares. But it's high-quality asset, very difficult to replicate. And so to the extent there are opportunities to purchase additional shares, we're interested in doing that, but that takes a willing seller as well. So we'll just continue to monitor that as we go forward.

Liam Fitzpatrick

Okay. Thank you.

Operator

Bob Brackett, Bernstein Research.

Bob Brackett

Hey, good morning. A question back to Indonesia. But this is around IUPK. If I overly analyze the 2Q versus 3Q, there was an expectation that you might file for IUPK extension in 2024 in the 2Q release, but in 3Q, it feels a little more vague. Am I over-interpreting? Or is there anything about the end of the year and filing that, that matters to you specifically?

Richard Adkerson

(multiple speakers) Definitely, let me make one comment here first. We had hope based on discussions that go back a couple of years that we would be able to accomplish this during the term of Joko Widodo. And with everything that went on with the transition to the new president, the election occurred months ago, but the transition was, occurred later, we just weren't able to get it. There's a established regulation in place that provides us the ability to file for it and we'll be working with the new government and working on the right time to do that, we feel confident that it will happen.

Bob Brackett

Very clear. A quick follow-up. Can you tease us a little with the pre-feasibility study launched on Safford Lone Star, what should really broad goalposts, what sort of opportunity should we think about?

Kathleen Quirk

This is a very large resource. We've been doing a lot of drilling over the last several years. and have identified a resource that is multiples of the current reserve. And it's in an established area. It's over the mountain range from Morenci, where we've operated for a century more. And Safford is relatively new. I mean it's one of the newest mines in the US, we brought it online in 2007, '08 time frame and then have expanded it to date. So what we have is this opportunity to a vision where you could have another cornerstone asset in this district where we've got talented workforce. We've got an established community support, and we've got a resource. So you could have a operation there that is both doing leaching, which that's what it's 100% leach operation today, but could add additional milling there to essentially double the production, the resource might support even more than doubling. But what we're looking at is the opportunity to go from 300 million pounds of copper a year there to $600 million and through efficient leasing and milling operation, and so what we're doing now is designing based on the resource, what the next step would be in terms of expanding the operation. And we're all very excited about it. We're pushing to really define what it could be. We know from the resource, it could be something that will be with us for a very long time. And so that's the objective. We're doing the pre-feasibility study work, and we'll have more information next year about what a project could look like. One of the things that is important to recognize here is it's not like El Abra in that a lot of us is going to — El Abra is a very attractive project, but it takes a long time because of the permitting requirements, we don't have the same degree. We don't believe we'll have the same degree of permitting required for this that you would have in something like El Abra. So it's possible that if this is fast tracked, it could come online not too much different than where El Abra. So that's exciting as well. We're fortunate at Freeport that we have these brownfield opportunities, we have big resources, and we have the community support that allows us to grow. And that's what we're doing. We're focused on technology. We're focused on automating what we do to make sure that we can be as efficient as possible long term. And I think technology, not only in our leach initiative, but also in our mining initiatives is going to turn the corner and make our US operations much more attractive as we go forward. So that's — that we're working on that in parallel with these studies.

Bob Brackett

Great color. Thanks, Kath.

Operator

Michael Dudas, Vertical Research Partners.

Michael Dudas

Good morning, David, Richard, and Kathleen.

Kathleen Quirk

Good morning, Mike.

Michael Dudas

Maybe you could shed — I appreciate the comments about North America and the impact on some of your initiatives on the cost side. But maybe you could give a sense of how quickly some of these efficiency initiatives will be moving forward, looking at the marketplace for labor, how where do you stand on that? And is there a normalized level or expectation away from the improvement from the leaching contribution that we'd see a moderation in the mining cost, of course, recognizing that the great issues that you've been dealing with.

Kathleen Quirk

Yeah. Well, over the last several quarters, we've had two — it's been twofold. One is we starting in '22, we had rising costs. And that came at a time when we started getting into lower grade. So we've had two things that we've been dealing with. The good news is that we're not seeing the rise in costs like we were previously. And actually, there's some things that — like energy that have come — that are actually — have trended lower. But the thing we're focused on now is making sure that our assets are as productive as possible. It's — we did some benchmarking against our South America operations and back in 2022, the two were pretty much on top of each other in terms of their unit costs. Now when we look at the comparison, there's a big gap between South America and North America, and that's mainly this great issue. We haven't had the grade decline in South America, like we've had in North America, but that requires us to be more efficient, and we think we can do that. We think that we can be more productive with our equipment more productive with our people as our people are getting better training, more experience. That is a big help. The other issue that we're making some progress on is downtime. We've had some experience in recent years with premature equipment failures. We're turning the corner on that. We're focused on systems and planning our downtime so that when we do go down for planned maintenance that the downtime is delivered, the projects delivered on the cost we expected and in the time frame we expected. But it's a lot of basics, but we're making progress. When we look at all the KPIs that we track, the key performance indicators that we track. We're seeing better utilization, better availability on our equipment than we've experienced in recent quarters. And that's just going to have to continue to be the case that we have to work day in, day out to achieve better asset availability and productivity metrics. The other thing we're focused on is contractor costs, we've had some labor rate increases that have not been insignificant, but the contractor costs have been even more significant. So what we're doing there is we're reducing the amount of contractors that we have in our operations. We're down about 10% or so from where we were, and we're allocating our own internal resources differently to reduce costs there that will be something we're continuing to work on. The other thing we're doing in our global supply chain group is leading an effort to really push back what's happened over the last couple of years with component parts and all aspects of maintenance supplies. People are trying to push through cost increases, price increases on equipment and parts. And we just don't see the data that supports that. So we're pushing back on that. We're looking to bring costs back down to reasonable levels where our vendors can generate returns but not egregious returns. So we've got multifaceted initiatives going on. As you mentioned, the leach initiative is one component of that, that's going to help a lot. But there are other areas that we've got teams focused on, and we will make progress if we continue to follow these key performance indicators and achieved these targets that we've set out that each of our teams know about, know what we need to do, we will bring down the cost even though grades may not improve. So that's something that we're committed to. And I think you'll start to see in 2025, all other things being equal in terms of input costs, but you'll see our unit cost trending lower in the US compared to where they are now. And I'll ask Josh or Maree, either of you, if you want to add to anything I commented on costs. This is a big effort for our whole team. So anybody else want to comment, please do.

Joshua Olmsted

Kathleen, I think you touched on everything that I was going to touch on. I mean really the laser focus by the team on efficiencies, productivities and managing our costs via contractor spend are really key in driving our unit cost down in addition to the work in the maintenance and reliability space, the more reliable our equipment is, the more productive it is and therefore, that just helps all the way across the board, not only from a deviser perspective, but also from a cost perspective because when equipment is down, it typically costs more. So you touched on the things that are the most important for us, and we're very, very focused organizationally on those key performance indicators so that we can manage that stuff on a day-to-day, week-to-week, month-to-month basis and drive it in the direction we need to go.

Kathleen Quirk

Thank you, Josh. Yeah. Thank you, Kathy. Thank you, Joshua. Look forward the progress.

Operator

Orest Wowkodaw, Scotiabank.

Orest Wowkodaw

Hi. Good morning. My question is around the same lines with respect to cost. I mean with North American cost above $3 in South America around $2.50, I understand that you're working on some cost reduction initiatives. But should we think about sort of the go-forward run rate for costs in North America were in the $2.50 to $3 range post these initiatives with South America more in the $2.25 to $2.50 a pound. Like is that just the new reality of today's cost environment?

Kathleen Quirk

I think directionally, that's right. Now to the extent that we can bring down some of these input costs, that will help. But I think that is what you're saying is accurate. Now I want to remind everybody that our reach initiative, if we're successful there and continuing to scale, that's a big deal. So you're talking about costs in the US for average today in the $3 range, this leach initiative is bringing on incremental pounds at a cost of less than $1. And so that will bring down the average as we scale it more because the reason why it's so attractive is because this is getting more copper out of what's already been mined. So the mining cost is a big part of the overall cost of copper production. And this is taking advantage of material that's already been mined and investing some incremental costs to get more. So that could really make a difference. And that's why we're talking about it so much, and we're making progress on it, it could really change the cost structure in the US. And we've got some opportunities for leach in particular, at El Abra that we're pursuing. But the meaningful impact will be in our US operations, principally Morenci and Safford and our Chino mine.

Orest Wowkodaw

Just as a follow-up to that, I mean, we've seen North American costs creep up seemingly quarter over quarter. Where do you see that inflection point? Should we — do you think we peaked here at $3.14 a pound or could we still see those costs flatline or go higher before they start coming down on the new leaching?

Kathleen Quirk

Our objectives and our targets are that they'll come down. So we should — you should see in 2025, you should see lower costs from what we've had in 2024. Now that depends on moly and some other things. But just site production costs, you should see costs trending lower in 2025 from where they were in '24.

Orest Wowkodaw

Thank you.

Operator

Daniel Major, UBS.

Daniel Major

Hi there. Can you hear me okay?

Operator

Yes.

Daniel Major

Great. Thank you. Thanks for the questrion. Yeah, the first one, just on the sort of M&A capital allocation. You've acquired some more stock in Cerro Verde, but as you mentioned, you need a willing seller. I guess two parts to the question. assuming you can't buy any more stock in Cerro Verde going forward, should we expect Freeport share buybacks in Q4 and into Q1 of next year? That's the first part of the question.

Kathleen Quirk

Well, I was just going to say, Richard we're following our framework for cash allocation for shareholder returns. And so we deploy 50% of cash flow to cash flow available after CapEx, excluding the discretionary items, of 50% to shareholder returns and 50% due to organic growth. And so I — we do expect that share purchases to the extent that we're generating cash above the current dividend levels will be available for us in the future to continue to buy stock back. The Cerro Verde was opportunistic. If there are opportunities in the future to buy Cerro Verde stock, it's — like we said, it's a very high-quality asset. And so we'll — that's really just an opportunistic purchase.

Daniel Major

Thanks —

Richard Adkerson

We have ongoing discussions with our shareholders and there's obviously differences views about dividends versus stock buybacks, but this is something we actively discuss with our Board at every meeting, and we'll be making decisions. It's great to be in a position now to be able to have those discussions, and we're well below our debt levels targets. So we'll be able to execute this policy that Kathleen just spoke with you about.

Daniel Major

Great. Thanks.. And maybe a follow-up, if I could, just on bigger picture, M&A, you're obviously seeing larger scale transactions starting to become more prominent in the sector. Is this something that you see as an opportunity going forward before some of these larger assets potentially get kind of taken off the market?

Kathleen Quirk

Yeah. We monitor market activity —

Richard Adkerson

I've said for a long time that M&A is coming in our industry, and it certainly will, and we're engaged in observing what goes on discussions with our bankers and with other companies to see what opportunities might arise. But M&A is not fundamental to our strategy. I mean, we are focused and have opportunities to grow value for our shareholders organically. And that's our primary focus, but we'll be in the marketplace and prepared to respond to opportunities. I've always felt that the best M&A comes from opportunities as opposed to predetermined strategic moves.

Daniel Major

Great. Thanks very much.

Operator

Lawson Winder, Bank of America Securities.

Lawson Winder

Hi. Thank you, Operator. Good morning, Kathleen and Richard. Thank you for taking the question and thanks for the update. I just wanted to ask about capital allocation, particularly with respect to the larger projects. So I'm thinking of Bagdad and thinking of El Abra. I'm thinking as now Lone Star. Would it be fair to characterize your decision-making as one where you would wait on a decision on Bagdad dead until you have the information on the study that you're now expecting at the end of next year for both El Abra and (inaudible)?

Kathleen Quirk

Well, Bagdad is a project that we can execute in the near term. We do want to — and we've got the information on El Abra. So we know the comparison between lab and Bagdad. For Lone Star, we need to get these studies done and that's why we're pushing to get the studies done next year. that will help us assess that. But Bagdad is something that can be executed in a three- to four-year horizon. Lone Star Safford will take longer to evaluate. But — yeah, it's in a perfect world, we would like to have, and that's the beauty of Freeport in that — we have — we manage all of these assets. And so we can look at capital allocation as to where it makes the most sense, where it has the best impact, the best returns for us to evaluate projects next to each other. So that's a real advantage, and we do that regularly to make sure we're allocating capital to the projects that make the most sense, not just to the projects that we can do. We want to invest our capital in the projects that drive the most value. There are other considerations in terms of time frames that can be executed within et cetera. But generally, that's our philosophy is to allocate capital to the most valuable projects within our portfolio to compare and contrast those. But so we will have more information on Safford next year and look at that next to Bagdad. But we think that Bagdad will — that the project will benefit back that long term. Again, we're talking about — we've got an 80-year plus reserve life there. And so that is a place where we feel investments make sense. And that's part of what guides our investment decisions is where do we have the resource and in this case, an established operation that we can leverage from. So but they're not mutually exclusive. We can do more than one project. And so our goal is to — if we've got projects that create value, and we can execute those efficiently we want to advance those aggressively.

Lawson Winder

Okay. That's perfect, actually. And then just my follow-up would be just thinking about 2025 CapEx I mean, how would you handicap thinking about that? I mean should we be thinking about 2025 CapEx being sort of in line with 24x smelter? Or should we be thinking about the possibility of a commitment at some point in '25, that would be cash out lower next year?

Kathleen Quirk

Yeah. At this point in time, we don't see a major change to '25 CapEx. We do have some investments in our discretionary bucket in '25 to advance Bagdad to derisk Bagdad. We're making some investments in power infrastructure. We're making some investments in tailings work that we're doing, that we'd have to do anyway longer term. But so we do have some investments in back debt in 2025 to derisk the overall project. But I don't see, based on the projects we're talking about in terms of El Abra, Bagdad, Lone Star, I don't see significant CapEx above what we have in our 2025 plans. But we'll continue to review those. If there's opportunities for us to advance things and that makes sense, we'll certainly be open to it. But at this point in time, this is our best estimate of what capital will look like in 2025.

Lawson Winder

Yeah, fantastic. Thanks again for the update, guys.

Kathleen Quirk

Thanks, Lawson.

Operator

Bill Peterson, JPMorgan.

Bennett Moore

Good morning Kathleen and Richard. This is Bennett on for Bill. Thank you for taking my questions. I wanted to start real quick, if you could provide any updates on some of your smaller and near-term discretionary projects on slide 23, namely increasing stacking at Lone Star, Atlantic Copper recycling and the improvements at the Grasberg mill.

Kathleen Quirk

Yeah. Bennett, what — just for everyone else, what he's talking about is us the discretionary projects that are included in our capital that generally are not maintenance related that actually have investment returns associated with them. The Lone Star oxide expansion is coming to an end. We're going to be completing that in the 2025 time frame. And so that will allow us to basically sustain 300 million pounds of copper per annum. Beyond that Lone Star, we're talking about a major expansion, and that is what we were talking about earlier studying. At Grasberg, we're installing a copper cleaner that will allow us to improve our concentrate grades and our metal recoveries. That investment is essentially, we've completed the major construction and we'll be installing that project, commissioning that project here in the fourth quarter. So that one is coming to an end, you won't see any significant cost for that one in 2025. The circular project at Atlantic Copper is taking advantage of Atlantic Copper's position in the market, the existing infrastructure, and we're developing a new circuit there to recycle scrap, electronic scrap material. And that project is underway. It's expected to be in production next year, at the end of next year. And it is going to add to Atlantic Copper. This may not be significant overall to Freeport, $60 million per annum, but it's significant to Atlantic Copper and particularly in the context of low TCRCs. This allows Atlantic Copper to continue to generate business outside of copper, and it's — Atlantic is very well suited to do this kind of work and recycling the material that are in phones and other things that have value. So that project is in construction, and as I said, expect to be completed next year.

Bennett Moore

Thanks for that. And then real quick, if I could just ask about the progress of the cleanup work going on at Grasberg, you've had success with placing this remote pumping equipment that you were speaking to last quarter?

Kathleen Quirk

Yes. We've made a lot of progress there. Things are — continue to go very well at Grasberg. The team did well this quarter and actually exceeded the forecast was able to get more tonnes through the mill than we had forecast, and grades were strong. And so operations there are continuing to go very well.

Bennett Moore

Thank you (inaudible).

Operator

And with that, (multiple speakers) management.

Kathleen Quirk

Thanks, Regina. Thank you, everyone, for all your good questions and participation, and we look forward to continue to keep you updated. And if you have any follow-ups, please contact David.

Operator

(multiple speakers) And that will conclude today's call. We thank you all for joining. You may now disconnect.

VANCOUVER, BC / ACCESSWIRE / October 22, 2024 / Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp. (TSXV:PGE)(OTCQB:PGEZF)(FSE:J0G) (the "Company" or "Stillwater") is pleased to announce that it has been invited to present at the Emerging Growth Conference on October 30th, 2024.

This live, interactive online event will give existing shareholders and the investment community the opportunity to interact live with the Company's President & CEO, Michael Rowley.

Starting at 3:00pm ET, Mr. Michael Rowley will provide an update on the Company and its flagship Stillwater West Ni-PGE-Cu-Co + Au project in Montana, USA, followed by Q&A. Participants are invited to submit questions in advance to Questions@EmergingGrowth.com or ask questions during the event.

To register, click here or the thumbnail.

An archived webcast will also be made available on EmergingGrowth.com and on the Emerging Growth YouTube Channel, http://www.YouTube.com/EmergingGrowthConference following the event.

About the Emerging Growth Conference

The Emerging Growth conference is an effective way for public companies to present opportunities and communicate major announcements to the investment community in a time efficient manner.

Conference focus and coverage includes companies in a wide range of growth sectors with strong management teams, focused strategy and execution, and overall potential for long-term growth. The audience includes individual and institutional investors, as well as investment advisors and analysts.

About Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp.

Stillwater Critical Minerals (TSXV:PGE)(OTCQB:PGEZF)(FSE:J0G) is a mineral exploration company focused on its flagship Stillwater West Ni-PGE-Cu-Co + Au project in the iconic and famously productive Stillwater mining district in Montana, USA. With the addition of two renowned Bushveld and Platreef geologists to the team and strategic investments by Glencore plc, the Company is well positioned to advance the next phase of large-scale critical mineral supply from this world-class American district, building on past production of nickel, copper, and chromium, and the on-going production of platinum group, nickel, and other metals by neighboring Sibanye-Stillwater. An expanded NI 43-101 mineral resource estimate, released January 2023, positions Stillwater West with the largest nickel resource in an active US mining district as part of a compelling suite of nine minerals now listed as critical in the USA.

Stillwater also holds the high-grade Black Lake-Drayton Gold project adjacent to Nexgold Mining's development-stage Goliath Gold Complex in northwest Ontario, currently under an earn-in agreement with Heritage Mining, and the Kluane PGE-Ni-Cu-Co critical minerals project on trend with Nickel Creek Platinum‘s Wellgreen deposit in Canada‘s Yukon Territory.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT:

Michael Rowley, President, CEO & Director – Stillwater Critical MineralsEmail: info@criticalminerals.comPhone: (604) 357 4790Toll Free: (888) 432 0075Web: http://criticalminerals.com

Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain statements that may be deemed "forward-looking statements". All statements in this release, other than statements of historical facts including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, historic production, estimation of mineral resources, the realization of mineral resource estimates, interpretation of prior exploration and potential exploration results, the timing and success of exploration activities generally, the timing and results of future resource estimates, permitting time lines, metal prices and currency exchange rates, availability of capital, government regulation of exploration operations, environmental risks, reclamation, title, and future plans and objectives of the company are forward-looking statements that involve various risks and uncertainties. Although Stillwater Critical Minerals believes the expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, such statements are not guarantees of future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on a number of material factors and assumptions. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in forward-looking statements include failure to obtain necessary approvals, unsuccessful exploration results, changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined, results of future resource estimates, future metal prices, availability of capital and financing on acceptable terms, general economic, market or business conditions, risks associated with regulatory changes, defects in title, availability of personnel, materials and equipment on a timely basis, accidents or equipment breakdowns, uninsured risks, delays in receiving government approvals, unanticipated environmental impacts on operations and costs to remedy same, and other exploration or other risks detailed herein and from time to time in the filings made by the companies with securities regulators. Readers are cautioned that mineral resources that are not mineral reserves do not have demonstrated economic viability. Mineral exploration and development of mines is an inherently risky business. Accordingly, the actual events may differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements. For more information on Stillwater Critical Minerals and the risks and challenges of their businesses, investors should review their annual filings that are available at www.sedarplus.ca.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

SOURCE: Stillwater Critical Minerals Corp.

View the original press release on accesswire.com

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Operations: The company generates revenue from its Management Consulting Services segment, which amounts to CA$480.41 million.

Market Cap: CA$173.51M

Alithya Group Inc., with a market cap of CA$173.51 million, operates in the digital technology services sector and reported first-quarter revenue of CA$120.88 million, down from CA$131.6 million a year earlier. Despite being unprofitable, Alithya has managed to reduce its net loss to CA$2.76 million from CA$7.25 million and maintains a strong cash runway exceeding three years due to positive free cash flow growth of 48.1% annually. The company is trading at 81.5% below estimated fair value and has completed share buybacks totaling 576,151 shares for CAD 1.08 million since September 2023.

• Unlock comprehensive insights into our analysis of Alithya Group stock in this financial health report.

• Assess Alithya Group’s future earnings estimates with our detailed growth reports.

TSX:ALYA Debt to Equity History and Analysis as at Oct 2024Quipt Home Medical

Simply Wall St Financial Health Rating: ★★★★★☆

Overview: Quipt Home Medical Corp. operates through its subsidiaries to provide durable and home medical equipment and supplies in the United States, with a market cap of CA$174.51 million.

Operations: The company generates revenue of $244.23 million from its provision of durable and home medical equipment and supplies in the United States.

Market Cap: CA$174.51M

Quipt Home Medical, with a market cap of CA$174.51 million, is navigating the challenges of being unprofitable while focusing on strategic growth. Despite a net loss increase to US$3.65 million for the nine months ending June 2024, revenue rose to US$193.29 million from US$159.22 million year-on-year, reflecting its operational resilience in the U.S. healthcare market. The company has a seasoned management team and maintains sufficient cash runway for over three years due to positive free cash flow growth, positioning it well for potential acquisitions amidst higher interest rates and volatile markets, while trading below estimated fair value.

• Get an in-depth perspective on Quipt Home Medical’s performance by reading our balance sheet health report here.

• Review our growth performance report to gain insights into Quipt Home Medical’s future.

TSX:QIPT Financial Position Analysis as at Oct 2024Lara Exploration

Simply Wall St Financial Health Rating: ★★★★★★

Overview: Lara Exploration Ltd., with a market cap of CA$62.64 million, operates through its subsidiaries to acquire, explore, develop, and evaluate mineral properties in Brazil, Peru, and Chile.

Operations: Lara Exploration Ltd. does not report specific revenue segments but focuses on the acquisition, exploration, development, and evaluation of mineral properties in Brazil, Peru, and Chile.

Market Cap: CA$62.64M

Lara Exploration Ltd., with a market cap of CA$62.64 million, is pre-revenue and unprofitable, yet holds potential due to its strategic mineral assets in Brazil, Peru, and Chile. The recent initial resource estimate for the Planalto Copper-Gold Project in Brazil highlights significant indicated resources of 47.7 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.53% copper and inferred resources totaling 154 million tonnes at an average grade of 0.36% copper. The company benefits from a debt-free balance sheet and experienced management team but faces challenges with declining earnings over the past five years despite recent profitability improvements reported in Q2 2024 results.

• Click here to discover the nuances of Lara Exploration with our detailed analytical financial health report.

• Evaluate Lara Exploration’s historical performance by accessing our past performance report.

TSXV:LRA Financial Position Analysis as at Oct 2024Next Steps

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Companies discussed in this article include TSX:ALYA TSX:QIPT and TSXV:LRA.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

A Relative Strength Rating upgrade for Teck Resources Cl B shows improving technical performance. Will it continue?

Southern Copper (SCCO) came out with quarterly earnings of $1.15 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.12 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.79 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of 2.68%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this miner would post earnings of $1.13 per share when it actually produced earnings of $1.22, delivering a surprise of 7.96%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times.

Southern Copper , which belongs to the Zacks Mining – Non Ferrous industry, posted revenues of $2.93 billion for the quarter ended September 2024, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.26%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $2.51 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates two times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Southern Copper shares have added about 31.9% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 22.7%.

What's Next for Southern Copper?

While Southern Copper has outperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Southern Copper: mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $1.21 on $3 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $4.54 on $11.82 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Mining – Non Ferrous is currently in the top 19% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Amerigo Resources (ARREF), another stock in the same industry, has yet to report results for the quarter ended September 2024.

This copper and molybdenum mining company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.03 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +175%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days.

Amerigo Resources' revenues are expected to be $46.13 million, up 52.1% from the year-ago quarter.

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Southern Copper Corporation (SCCO) : Free Stock Analysis Report

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Zacks Investment Research

PHOENIX (AP) — PHOENIX (AP) — Southern Copper Corp. (SCCO) on Tuesday reported net income of $896.7 million in its third quarter.

The Phoenix-based company said it had profit of $1.15 per share.

The miner posted revenue of $2.93 billion in the period.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on SCCO at https://www.zacks.com/ap/SCCO

PHOENIX, October 22, 2024–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Freeport (NYSE: FCX) today announced that it has posted its third-quarter and nine-month 2024 financial and operating results press release on the Investor Relations page of its website at https://investors.fcx.com/investors/news-releases.

As previously indicated on its website, FCX will host a conference call today with securities analysts at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time to discuss quarterly and nine-month results. The conference call will be webcast on the Internet along with slides. Interested parties may listen to the conference call live and view the slides on the Investor Relations page of FCX’s website at https://investors.fcx.com/investors/presentations. A replay of the webcast will be available through Friday, November 15, 2024.

FREEPORT: Foremost in Copper

FCX is a leading international metals company with the objective of being foremost in copper. Headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona, FCX operates large, long-lived, geographically diverse assets with significant proven and probable reserves of copper, gold and molybdenum. FCX is one of the world’s largest publicly traded copper producers.

FCX’s portfolio of assets includes the Grasberg minerals district in Indonesia, one of the world’s largest copper and gold deposits; and significant operations in North America and South America, including the large-scale Morenci minerals district in Arizona and the Cerro Verde operation in Peru.

By supplying responsibly produced copper, FCX is proud to be a positive contributor to the world well beyond its operational boundaries. Additional information about FCX is available on FCX's website at fcx.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241021253049/en/

Contacts

Financial Contact:David P. Joint(504) 582-4203

Media Contact:Linda S. Hayes(602) 366-7824

By Tanay Dhumal

(Reuters) -Freeport-McMoRan said on Tuesday that demand for copper is expected to increase with more data centers being built, and the miner reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as higher prices of the red metal offset a drop in production.

Average copper prices rose in the third quarter on signs of better demand in top consumer China, falling inventories and as the country unleashed wide-ranging stimulus measures to boost its flagging economy.

Freeport's quarterly average realized price for copper was up 13.2% to $4.30 per pound, while the metal's production fell 3.1% to 1.05 billion recoverable pounds in the quarter.

The company said it was seeing robust demand for power cables and building wire associated with electrical infrastructure and data centers in the United States.

"Both the growing sectors more than offset weakness in traditional demand sectors," CEO Kathleen Quirk said on a post-earnings call.

Last week, Freeport halted copper cathode production at its Manyar smelter in Indonesia after a fire at a sulphuric acid unit at the site in East Java province, which was later extinguished.

Reuters reported last week that Freeport will postpone sales of refined copper from Indonesia until the second quarter of 2025 as the fire caused a further production delay, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter.

The company said on Tuesday that it expects repair costs for the Manyar smelter to be covered by insurance.

On an adjusted basis, Freeport earned 38 cents per share in the third quarter, compared with the average analyst estimate of 35 cents per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

The company's shares were up 1.1% at $48.45.

(Reporting by Tanay Dhumal in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Ernest Scheyder in Houston; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)

PHOENIX (AP) — PHOENIX (AP) — Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX) on Tuesday reported third-quarter earnings of $526 million.

On a per-share basis, the Phoenix-based company said it had net income of 36 cents. Earnings, adjusted for non-recurring costs, were 38 cents per share.

The results did not meet Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of seven analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 40 cents per share.

The mining company posted revenue of $6.79 billion in the period, exceeding Street forecasts. Four analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $6.46 billion.

_____

This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on FCX at https://www.zacks.com/ap/FCX

Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) came out with quarterly earnings of $0.38 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $0.40 per share. This compares to earnings of $0.39 per share a year ago. These figures are adjusted for non-recurring items.

This quarterly report represents an earnings surprise of -5%. A quarter ago, it was expected that this mining company would post earnings of $0.39 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.46, delivering a surprise of 17.95%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has surpassed consensus EPS estimates three times.

Freeport-McMoRan , which belongs to the Zacks Mining – Non Ferrous industry, posted revenues of $6.79 billion for the quarter ended September 2024, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 5.12%. This compares to year-ago revenues of $5.82 billion. The company has topped consensus revenue estimates four times over the last four quarters.

The sustainability of the stock's immediate price movement based on the recently-released numbers and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's commentary on the earnings call.

Freeport-McMoRan shares have added about 12.6% since the beginning of the year versus the S&P 500's gain of 22.7%.

What's Next for Freeport-McMoRan?

While Freeport-McMoRan has underperformed the market so far this year, the question that comes to investors' minds is: what's next for the stock?

There are no easy answers to this key question, but one reliable measure that can help investors address this is the company's earnings outlook. Not only does this include current consensus earnings expectations for the coming quarter(s), but also how these expectations have changed lately.

Empirical research shows a strong correlation between near-term stock movements and trends in earnings estimate revisions. Investors can track such revisions by themselves or rely on a tried-and-tested rating tool like the Zacks Rank, which has an impressive track record of harnessing the power of earnings estimate revisions.

Ahead of this earnings release, the estimate revisions trend for Freeport-McMoRan: mixed. While the magnitude and direction of estimate revisions could change following the company's just-released earnings report, the current status translates into a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) for the stock. So, the shares are expected to perform in line with the market in the near future. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

It will be interesting to see how estimates for the coming quarters and current fiscal year change in the days ahead. The current consensus EPS estimate is $0.48 on $6.59 billion in revenues for the coming quarter and $1.59 on $25.92 billion in revenues for the current fiscal year.

Investors should be mindful of the fact that the outlook for the industry can have a material impact on the performance of the stock as well. In terms of the Zacks Industry Rank, Mining – Non Ferrous is currently in the top 19% of the 250 plus Zacks industries. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.

Ero Copper Corp. (ERO), another stock in the same industry, has yet to report results for the quarter ended September 2024. The results are expected to be released on November 5.

This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.27 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +50%. The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 22.7% lower over the last 30 days to the current level.

Ero Copper Corp.'s revenues are expected to be $148.8 million, up 41.4% from the year-ago quarter.

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Zacks Investment Research

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. FCX recorded profits (attributable to common stock) of $526 million or 36 cents per share in third-quarter 2024, up around 16% from $454 million or 31 cents in the year-ago quarter.Barring one-time items, adjusted earnings per share were 38 cents, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 40 cents. Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.

Revenues rose roughly 17% year over year to $6,790 million. The figure surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $6,459.6 million. The results were driven by higher copper and gold prices in the reported quarter.

 

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

 

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Freeport-McMoRan Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Freeport-McMoRan Inc. Quote

FCX’s Operational Highlights

Copper production fell around 3% year over year to 1,051 million pounds in the reported quarter. The figure was ahead of our estimate of 1,047 million pounds.Consolidated sales declined roughly 7% year over year to 1,035 million pounds of copper. The figure was ahead of our estimate of 1,010 million pounds. This downside was mainly due to the timing of shipments and reduced ore grades and operating rates in North America.The company sold 558,000 ounces of gold, up around 40% year over year. FCX also sold 19 million pounds of molybdenum, down from 20 million pounds in the prior-year quarter.Consolidated average unit net cash costs per pound of copper were $1.39, down from $1.73 a year ago. The figure was lower than our estimate of $1.71.The average realized copper price was $4.30 per pound, up around 13% year over year. The figure was higher than our estimate of $4.28 per pound. The average realized price per ounce for gold rose around 35% year over year to $2,568. The figure was above our estimate of $2,367.

Freeport’s Financial Position

Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the quarter were $5 billion, down around 5% from the prior quarter. The company’s total debt was $9,679 million, up around 3% year sequentially.Cash flows provided by operations were around $1.9 billion in the reported quarter, up around 51% year over year.

FCX’s Guidance

Freeport expects consolidated sales volumes for 2024 to be around 4.1 billion pounds of copper, 1.8 million ounces of gold and 80 million pounds of molybdenum. This includes fourth-quarter estimates of 980 million pounds of copper, 340,000 ounces of gold and 20 million pounds of molybdenum.The unit net cash costs for copper are projected to average $1.58 per pound for 2024. The same has been forecast at $1.72 per pound for the fourth quarter.The company also sees operating cash flows of around $6.8 billion for 2024. Capital expenditures for the full year are projected to be around $4.6 billion.

FCX Stock’s Price Performance

Freeport’s shares are up 43.1% in the past year compared with the Zacks Mining – Non Ferrous industry’s 50% rise.

 

Zacks Investment Research

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

FCX’s Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

FCX currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).Better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are IAMGOLD Corporation IAG, DuPont de Nemours, Inc. DD and AdvanSix Inc. ASIX, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.IAMGOLD is scheduled to release third-quarter results on Nov. 7. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for IAG’s third-quarter earnings is pegged at 12 cents. IAG beat the consensus estimate in each of the last four quarters with the average surprise being 200%. Its shares have shot up roughly 158% in the past year. DuPont is slated to release third-quarter results on Nov. 5. The consensus estimate for DD’s third-quarter earnings is pegged at $1.03. The company's shares have rallied roughly 17% in the past year. AdvanSix is scheduled to release third-quarter results on Nov. 1. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ASIX’s third-quarter earnings is pegged at 66 cents. ASIX has gained around 7% in the past year.

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(Bloomberg) — Freeport-McMoRan Inc. is in talks with the Indonesian government to extend its licenses to export copper concentrate because a fire has disrupted the company’s smelter operations in the Southeast Asian nation.

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Freeport’s Indonesian subsidiary has temporarily suspended operations at its copper smelter after a fire last week damaged infrastructure used to produce sulphuric acid, the US metals producer said Tuesday in its earnings report. Freeport said the subsidiary “is working with the Indonesia government to allow continuity of copper concentrate exports until smelter operations are restored.”

Freeport secured licenses in July to export copper concentrates and anodes until the end of the year, following requirements that producers commission smelters in Indonesia to refine the raw material. The permits are part of a government push to leverage Indonesia’s mineral wealth to secure investment in industrial development.

Chief Executive Officer Kathleen Quirk said on Tuesday’s earnings call that the company will need to replace some equipment and piping that was damaged during the fire. She declined to give a timeline for the repairs.

“Our teams have been on the ground, inspecting the damaged equipment and determining what needs to be replaced,” she said. “We’re working to figure out the root cause of this.”

(Updated with comments from Freeport CEO)

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The Canadian market has seen a notable increase, climbing 1.4% over the last week and rising 28% over the past year, with earnings expected to grow by 16% annually. For those interested in investing in smaller or newer companies, penny stocks—despite their somewhat outdated name—can still offer surprising value when backed by strong financials. This article will explore several penny stocks that stand out for their financial strength and potential for long-term growth.

Top 10 Penny Stocks In Canada

Name	Share Price	Market Cap	Financial Health Rating
PetroTal (TSX:TAL)	CA$0.68	CA$620.88M	★★★★★★
Findev (TSXV:FDI)	CA$0.41	CA$11.75M	★★★★★☆
Winshear Gold (TSXV:WINS)	CA$0.165	CA$4.4M	★★★★★★
Mandalay Resources (TSX:MND)	CA$3.24	CA$297.04M	★★★★★★
Pulse Seismic (TSX:PSD)	CA$2.29	CA$119.71M	★★★★★★
Amerigo Resources (TSX:ARG)	CA$1.80	CA$303.72M	★★★★★☆
Foraco International (TSX:FAR)	CA$2.40	CA$221.84M	★★★★★☆
East West Petroleum (TSXV:EW)	CA$0.035	CA$3.17M	★★★★★★
Newport Exploration (TSXV:NWX)	CA$0.115	CA$12.14M	★★★★★★
NamSys (TSXV:CTZ)	CA$1.11	CA$30.89M	★★★★★★

Click here to see the full list of 947 stocks from our TSX Penny Stocks screener.

Underneath we present a selection of stocks filtered out by our screen.

Dundee

Simply Wall St Financial Health Rating: ★★★★☆☆

Overview: Dundee Corporation is a publicly owned investment manager with a market cap of CA$150.99 million.

Operations: The company’s revenue is primarily derived from its Mining Services segment, which generated CA$3.72 million, along with contributions from Corporate and Others amounting to CA$4.00 million.

Market Cap: CA$150.99M

Dundee Corporation, with a market cap of CA$150.99 million, primarily derives its revenue from its Mining Services segment. The company has recently completed the redemption of preferred shares, which may improve financial flexibility. Despite lacking significant revenue streams (CA$6 million), Dundee reported substantial net income gains due to large one-off items impacting results. While the company’s debt levels are satisfactory and short-term assets cover liabilities comfortably, operating cash flow remains negative. The management and board are experienced, but the Return on Equity is low at 9.3%. Its Price-To-Earnings ratio suggests it might be undervalued compared to the broader Canadian market.

• Click here and access our complete financial health analysis report to understand the dynamics of Dundee.

• Examine Dundee’s past performance report to understand how it has performed in prior years.

TSX:DC.A Financial Position Analysis as at Oct 2024Eloro Resources

Simply Wall St Financial Health Rating: ★★★★★★

Overview: Eloro Resources Ltd. is involved in the exploration and development of mineral properties in Bolivia and Peru, with a market cap of CA$93.14 million.

Operations: Eloro Resources Ltd. currently does not report any revenue segments.

Market Cap: CA$93.14M

Eloro Resources Ltd., with a market cap of CA$93.14 million, focuses on mineral exploration in Bolivia and Peru but remains pre-revenue. Recent developments include a private placement to raise CA$2.7 million, potentially extending its cash runway beyond the current seven months forecasted under free cash flow estimates. The company is debt-free and has sufficient short-term assets to cover liabilities, though it faces ongoing losses without profitability expected in the near term. Management changes aim to bolster strategic direction as Eloro advances its Iska Iska project, emphasizing increased drilling density for better resource definition and potential economic viability assessments.

• Jump into the full analysis health report here for a deeper understanding of Eloro Resources.

• Assess Eloro Resources’ future earnings estimates with our detailed growth reports.

TSX:ELO Debt to Equity History and Analysis as at Oct 2024Forsys Metals

Simply Wall St Financial Health Rating: ★★★★☆☆

Overview: Forsys Metals Corp., with a market cap of CA$147.65 million, is involved in the acquisition, exploration, and development of mineral properties in Africa through its subsidiaries.

Operations: Forsys Metals Corp. currently does not have any reported revenue segments.

Market Cap: CA$147.65M

Forsys Metals Corp., with a market cap of CA$147.65 million, is pre-revenue and engaged in mineral exploration in Africa. The company recently reported significant interim drilling results from its Norasa Uranium project, indicating potential resource expansion at the Valencia site. Despite having no long-term liabilities and being debt-free, Forsys faces financial challenges with less than a year of cash runway based on current free cash flow trends. Additionally, there has been significant insider selling over the past three months. Recent management changes include the appointment of Pierfranco Malpenga to strengthen strategic oversight.

• Click here to discover the nuances of Forsys Metals with our detailed analytical financial health report.

• Examine Forsys Metals’ earnings growth report to understand how analysts expect it to perform.

TSX:FSY Financial Position Analysis as at Oct 2024Make It Happen

• Jump into our full catalog of 947 TSX Penny Stocks here.

• Invested in any of these stocks? Simplify your portfolio management with Simply Wall St and stay ahead with our alerts for any critical updates on your stocks.

• Take control of your financial future using Simply Wall St, offering free, in-depth knowledge of international markets to every investor.

Looking For Alternative Opportunities?

• Explore high-performing small cap companies that haven’t yet garnered significant analyst attention.

• Jump on the AI train with fast growing tech companies forging a new era of innovation.

• Find companies with promising cash flow potential yet trading below their fair value.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Companies discussed in this article include TSX:DC.A TSX:ELO and TSX:FSY.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

BHP (NYSE:BHP) is up against a $47 billion lawsuit in the UK over the 2015 Mariana Dam disaster in Brazil. The case involves more than 600,000 claimants, including 46 local businesses and 2,000 governments, with the trial set to begin Monday in London's High Court. Additionally, up to 12 weeks are expected of hearing.

Arguing that it duplicates continuous legal procedures and compensation efforts in Brazil, BHP has challenged the lawsuit. The corporation believes that together with further settlement talks with the Brazilian government, around $8 billion in reparations paid through the Renova Foundation should be enough for the settlement. According to a Financial Times analysis, BHP and Brazilian mining company Vale (NYSE:VALE), its project partner, have jointly proposed a $23.8 billion settlement in Brazil. Operating under BHP and Samarco, a joint venture between Vale and BHP, the Mariana Dam collapsed in 2015 causing 19 deaths, thousands of displacements, and major pollution of the Doce River.

• Warning! GuruFocus has detected 2 Warning Sign with VALE.

According to BHP, its goal is to complete a fair and thorough pay system that would retain money within Brazil in assisting in the restoration of projects in impacted areas.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

White Rock, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – October 21, 2024) – Honey Badger Silver Inc. (TSXV: TUF) (OTCQB: HBEIF) ("Honey Badger" or the "Company") is pleased to announce that it has added strategic claims through staking at its 100%-owned Nanisivik project, located on Baffin Island, Nunavut. These claims are deemed to have high geologic growth and discovery potential.

Honey Badger's CEO, Dorian L. (Dusty) Nicol, commented, "Our recent historic drill and geophysical data analysis (news release dated September 16, 2024), revealed several high-priority targets that may be silver-rich massive sulphide bodies. To capture the full benefit of these and additional potential silver-rich targets for our shareholders we staked new claims at very low cost. We are extremely excited by our new land position because of how it expands, at extremely low cost, the number of potential silver-rich targets. Our next steps will be to continue compiling and interpreting available data on these new claims, with a view to performing an initial field reconnaissance."

New Claims

The Company has recently increased the size of its mineral tenure around the past producing Nanisivik Mine on Baffin Island, Nunavut, which now comprises a total of 14 mineral claims covering some 13,373.2 hectares (ha). The Company's original Nanisivik Property comprised 4 claims totaling 5,722.8 ha that cover the former mine site. The company has staked an additional 10 claims totaling 7650.4 ha at and around the Nanisivik area. These claims cover geophysical anomalies identified during the Company's review of the historic data base (see news release dated September 16, 2024). The new claims comprise a further 3 claims that have added 1174.2 ha to the original Nanisivik claim block, 2 claims (1710.4 ha) covering the Chris Creek target located approximately 19 km southeast of Nanisivik, and further 5 claims (4765.8 ha) covering historical geophysical anomalies (conductors) in and around the Adams Sound and Adams River target areas approximately 40 km and 55 km, respectively, southeast of Nanisivik. The map below illustrates the locations of the new claims with respect to the geophysical anomalies.

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/3204/227244_5db1c8ac14c1d999_001full.jpg

About Nanisivik

The Nanisivik Mine (near Arctic Bay, Nunavut) produced over 20 million ounces of silver between 1976 and 2002, from 17.9 million tons of ore, grading 9% zinc, 0.72% lead, and 35 grams per tonne silver (1). In addition to the polymetallic orebody, previous exploration identified massive sulphide bodies (principally pyrite) still in place, totaling about 100 million tonnes (1,2), containing locally anomalous base metal and silver values.

(1) Reference: Geological Survey of Canada, 2002-C22, "Structural and Stratigraphic Controls on Zn-Pb-Ag Mineralization at the Nanisivik Mississippi Valley-type Deposit, Northern Baffin Island, Nunavut; by Patterson and Powis.(2) A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify this historic tonnage estimate as a current mineral resource and the Company is not treating the estimate as a current mineral resource. The historic tonnage estimate cannot be relied upon. Additional work, including verification drilling / sampling, will be required to verify the estimate as a current mineral resource.

(3) University College London study, 1922, published by Royal Geographic Society.

Qualified Person

Technical information in this news release has been approved by Dorian L. (Dusty) Nicol, the Company's CEO (PG, FAusIMM), who is a Qualified Person (QP) for the purpose of National Instrument 43-101.

Yava Acquisition

The Company announced on October 2, 2024, that it has agreed to purchase the Yava property for 4,250,000 shares from Blue Moon Metals Inc. The property is subject to a 10% NPI royalty, which the Company can repurchase for $1.5 million. Please see the previous news release for more information about the Yava acquisition.

About Honey Badger Silver Inc.

Honey Badger Silver is a silver company. The company is led by a highly experienced leadership team with a track record of value creation backed by a skilled technical team. Our projects are located in areas with a long history of mining, including the Sunrise Lake project with a historic resource of 12.8 Moz of silver (and 201.3 million pounds of zinc) Indicated and 13.9 Moz of silver (and 247.8 million pounds of zinc) Inferred (1)(3) located in the Northwest Territories and the Plata high grade silver project located 165 km east of Yukon's prolific Keno Hill and adjacent to Snowline Gold's Rogue discovery. The Company's Clear Lake Project in the Yukon Territory has a historic resource of 5.5 Moz of silver and 1.3 billion pounds of zinc (2)(3). The Company also has a significant land holding at the Nanisivik Mine Area located in Nunavut, Canada that produced over 20 Moz of silver between 1976 and 2002 (2,3). A qualified person has not done sufficient work to classify the foregoing historical resources as current mineral resources and the Company is not treating the estimates as current mineral resources. The historical resource estimates are provided solely for the purpose as an indication of the volume of mineralization that could be present. Additional work, including verification drilling / sampling, will be required to verify any of the historical estimates as a current mineral resources.

(1) Sunrise Lake 2003 RPA historic resource: Indicated 1.522 million tonnes grading 262 grams/tonne silver, 6.0% zinc, 2.4% lead, 0.08% copper, and 0.67 grams/tonne gold and Inferred 2.555 million tonnes grading 169 grams/tonne silver, 4.4% zinc, 1.9% lead, 0.07% copper, and 0.51 grams/tonne gold.

(2) Clear Lake 2010 SRK historic Resource: Inferred 7.76 million tonnes grading 22 grams/tonne silver, 7.6% zinc, and 1.08% lead.

(3) Geological Survey of Canada, 2002-C22, "Structural and Stratigraphic Controls on Zn-Pb-Ag Mineralization at the Nanisivik Mississippi Valley type Deposit, Northern Baffin Island, Nunavut; by Patterson and Powis."

ON BEHALF OF THE BOARD

Dorian L. (Dusty) Nicol, CEO

For more information, please visit our website www.honeybadgersilver.com or contact Sonya Pekar for Investor Relations | spekar@honeybadgersilver.com |+1 (647) 498 – 8244

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of the applicable Canadian securities legislation that is based on expectations, estimates, projections and interpretations as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves discussions with respect to predictions, expectations, interpretations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance (often but not always using phrases such as "expects", or "does not expect", "is expected", "interpreted", "management's view", "anticipates" or "does not anticipate", "plans", "budget", "scheduled", "forecasts", "estimates", "believes" or "intends" or variations of such words and phrases or stating that certain actions, events or results "may" or "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken to occur or be achieved) are not statements of historical fact and may be forward-looking information and are intended to identify forward-looking information. This forward-looking information is based on reasonable assumptions and estimates of management of the Company at the time such assumptions and estimates were made, and involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Honey Badger to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information.

Such factors include, but are not limited to, risks relating to capital and operating costs varying significantly from estimates; delays in obtaining or failures to obtain required governmental, environmental or other project approvals; uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future; changes in equity markets; inflation; fluctuations in commodity prices; delays in the development of projects; other risks involved in the mineral exploration and development industry; and those risks set out in the Company's public documents filed on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) under Honey Badger's issuer profile. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed timeframes or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/227244

Over the last 7 days, the Australian market has remained flat, but it is up 20% over the past year with earnings expected to grow by 12% per annum in the coming years. While ‘penny stocks’ might seem like a term from a bygone era, they continue to offer intriguing opportunities for investors seeking affordability and growth potential. By focusing on companies with strong financials and clear growth trajectories, investors can find promising options among these smaller or newer firms.

Top 10 Penny Stocks In Australia

Name	Share Price	Market Cap	Financial Health Rating
LaserBond (ASX:LBL)	A$0.555	A$63.88M	★★★★★★
Embark Early Education (ASX:EVO)	A$0.805	A$127.64M	★★★★☆☆
MaxiPARTS (ASX:MXI)	A$1.895	A$104.82M	★★★★★★
Austin Engineering (ASX:ANG)	A$0.50	A$303.87M	★★★★★☆
Helloworld Travel (ASX:HLO)	A$1.865	A$298M	★★★★★★
Navigator Global Investments (ASX:NGI)	A$1.72	A$838.04M	★★★★★☆
West African Resources (ASX:WAF)	A$1.71	A$1.82B	★★★★★★
Atlas Pearls (ASX:ATP)	A$0.13	A$56.64M	★★★★★★
GTN (ASX:GTN)	A$0.47	A$93.09M	★★★★★★
Joyce (ASX:JYC)	A$3.93	A$114.45M	★★★★★★

Click here to see the full list of 1,026 stocks from our ASX Penny Stocks screener.

Below we spotlight a couple of our favorites from our exclusive screener.

Alkane Resources

Simply Wall St Financial Health Rating: ★★★★★☆

Overview: Alkane Resources Ltd is an Australian company focused on gold exploration and production, with a market cap of A$329.50 million.

Operations: The company generates revenue primarily from its Gold Operations segment, which contributed A$173.58 million.

Market Cap: A$329.5M

Alkane Resources Ltd, with a market cap of A$329.50 million, primarily generates revenue from its gold operations, reporting A$172.99 million in sales for the year ending June 30, 2024. Despite a decrease in net income to A$17.68 million from the previous year’s A$42.45 million and declining profit margins (10.2% compared to 22.3%), Alkane remains debt-free and has stable weekly volatility at 7%. The seasoned management team and board bring valuable experience to navigate challenges such as covering long-term liabilities exceeding short-term assets by A$31M while aiming for future earnings growth forecasted at over 36% annually.

• Click to explore a detailed breakdown of our findings in Alkane Resources’ financial health report.

• Learn about Alkane Resources’ future growth trajectory here.

ASX:ALK Financial Position Analysis as at Oct 2024Aurelia Metals

Simply Wall St Financial Health Rating: ★★★★★☆

Overview: Aurelia Metals Limited is an Australian company involved in the exploration and production of mineral properties, with a market capitalization of A$346.77 million.

Operations: The company’s revenue is derived from its operations at the Peak Mine (A$207.34 million), Dargues Mine (A$102.36 million), and Hera Mine (A$0.20 million).

Market Cap: A$346.77M

Aurelia Metals, with a market cap of A$346.77 million, reported A$309.89 million in sales for the year ending June 30, 2024, but remains unprofitable with a net loss of A$5.73 million. The company benefits from stable weekly volatility (10%) and has more cash than total debt, providing a solid financial footing despite increasing losses over five years at 49.1% annually. Short-term assets exceed both short-term and long-term liabilities, ensuring liquidity stability. While the management team is relatively new and inexperienced, production guidance for fiscal year 2025 indicates potential growth in gold and base metal outputs.

• Jump into the full analysis health report here for a deeper understanding of Aurelia Metals.

• Gain insights into Aurelia Metals’ future direction by reviewing our growth report.

ASX:AMI Financial Position Analysis as at Oct 2024Wagners Holding

Simply Wall St Financial Health Rating: ★★★★☆☆

Overview: Wagners Holding Company Limited is involved in the production and sale of construction materials across Australia, the United States, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, PNG, and Malaysia with a market cap of A$227.02 million.

Operations: Wagners Holding generates revenue through its Construction Materials segment with A$224.39 million, Project Services at A$206.20 million, Earth Friendly Concrete contributing A$0.27 million, and Composite Fibre Technology adding A$59.38 million.

Market Cap: A$227.02M

Wagners Holding, with a market cap of A$227.02 million, has shown significant earnings growth of 229.2% over the past year, surpassing its five-year average of 1.7%. Despite large one-off losses impacting recent financial results and a low return on equity at 7.6%, the company maintains satisfactory debt levels with net debt to equity at 25.1% and coverage by operating cash flow at 138.3%. Wagners resumed dividend payments in October 2024 after six years, reflecting improved financial health as net income rose to A$10.28 million for the year ending June 30, 2024, compared to A$3.12 million previously.

• Navigate through the intricacies of Wagners Holding with our comprehensive balance sheet health report here.

• Assess Wagners Holding’s future earnings estimates with our detailed growth reports.

ASX:WGN Debt to Equity History and Analysis as at Oct 2024Key Takeaways

• Investigate our full lineup of 1,026 ASX Penny Stocks right here.

• Already own these companies? Link your portfolio to Simply Wall St and get alerts on any new warning signs to your stocks.

• Unlock the power of informed investing with Simply Wall St, your free guide to navigating stock markets worldwide.

Seeking Other Investments?

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• Find companies with promising cash flow potential yet trading below their fair value.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Companies discussed in this article include ASX:ALK ASX:AMI and ASX:WGN.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

Key Insights

• Significantly high institutional ownership implies Aura Energy's stock price is sensitive to their trading actions

• The top 6 shareholders own 52% of the company

• Using data from company's past performance alongside ownership research, one can better assess the future performance of a company

Every investor in Aura Energy Limited (ASX:AEE) should be aware of the most powerful shareholder groups. The group holding the most number of shares in the company, around 52% to be precise, is institutions. Put another way, the group faces the maximum upside potential (or downside risk).

Because institutional owners have a huge pool of resources and liquidity, their investing decisions tend to carry a great deal of weight, especially with individual investors. As a result, a sizeable amount of institutional money invested in a firm is generally viewed as a positive attribute.

Let's delve deeper into each type of owner of Aura Energy, beginning with the chart below.

View our latest analysis for Aura Energy

ownership-breakdownWhat Does The Institutional Ownership Tell Us About Aura Energy?

Institutions typically measure themselves against a benchmark when reporting to their own investors, so they often become more enthusiastic about a stock once it's included in a major index. We would expect most companies to have some institutions on the register, especially if they are growing.

We can see that Aura Energy does have institutional investors; and they hold a good portion of the company's stock. This can indicate that the company has a certain degree of credibility in the investment community. However, it is best to be wary of relying on the supposed validation that comes with institutional investors. They too, get it wrong sometimes. When multiple institutions own a stock, there's always a risk that they are in a 'crowded trade'. When such a trade goes wrong, multiple parties may compete to sell stock fast. This risk is higher in a company without a history of growth. You can see Aura Energy's historic earnings and revenue below, but keep in mind there's always more to the story.

earnings-and-revenue-growth

Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Aura Energy is not owned by hedge funds. Macquarie Group, Ltd., Banking & Securities Investments is currently the company's largest shareholder with 14% of shares outstanding. The Lind Partners, LLC is the second largest shareholder owning 8.4% of common stock, and Asean Investment Management holds about 8.1% of the company stock.

We did some more digging and found that 6 of the top shareholders account for roughly 52% of the register, implying that along with larger shareholders, there are a few smaller shareholders, thereby balancing out each others interests somewhat.

While it makes sense to study institutional ownership data for a company, it also makes sense to study analyst sentiments to know which way the wind is blowing. While there is some analyst coverage, the company is probably not widely covered. So it could gain more attention, down the track.

Insider Ownership Of Aura Energy

The definition of an insider can differ slightly between different countries, but members of the board of directors always count. Company management run the business, but the CEO will answer to the board, even if he or she is a member of it.

Insider ownership is positive when it signals leadership are thinking like the true owners of the company. However, high insider ownership can also give immense power to a small group within the company. This can be negative in some circumstances.

Shareholders would probably be interested to learn that insiders own shares in Aura Energy Limited. As individuals, the insiders collectively own AU$14m worth of the AU$157m company. This shows at least some alignment, but we usually like to see larger insider holdings. You can click here to see if those insiders have been buying or selling.

General Public Ownership

The general public– including retail investors — own 32% stake in the company, and hence can't easily be ignored. While this size of ownership may not be enough to sway a policy decision in their favour, they can still make a collective impact on company policies.

Private Company Ownership

We can see that Private Companies own 7.1%, of the shares on issue. It's hard to draw any conclusions from this fact alone, so its worth looking into who owns those private companies. Sometimes insiders or other related parties have an interest in shares in a public company through a separate private company.

Next Steps:

It's always worth thinking about the different groups who own shares in a company. But to understand Aura Energy better, we need to consider many other factors. For example, we've discovered 3 warning signs for Aura Energy (2 don't sit too well with us!) that you should be aware of before investing here.

If you are like me, you may want to think about whether this company will grow or shrink. Luckily, you can check this free report showing analyst forecasts for its future.

NB: Figures in this article are calculated using data from the last twelve months, which refer to the 12-month period ending on the last date of the month the financial statement is dated. This may not be consistent with full year annual report figures.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

As every investor would know, not every swing hits the sweet spot. But really bad investments should be rare. So consider, for a moment, the misfortune of Energy Resources of Australia Ltd (ASX:ERA) investors who have held the stock for three years as it declined a whopping 99%. That would certainly shake our confidence in the decision to own the stock. And the ride hasn't got any smoother in recent times over the last year, with the price 88% lower in that time. Shareholders have had an even rougher run lately, with the share price down 89% in the last 90 days. While a drop like that is definitely a body blow, money isn't as important as health and happiness.

Given the past week has been tough on shareholders, let's investigate the fundamentals and see what we can learn.

Check out our latest analysis for Energy Resources of Australia

Because Energy Resources of Australia made a loss in the last twelve months, we think the market is probably more focussed on revenue and revenue growth, at least for now. When a company doesn't make profits, we'd generally hope to see good revenue growth. As you can imagine, fast revenue growth, when maintained, often leads to fast profit growth.

Over the last three years, Energy Resources of Australia's revenue dropped 65% per year. That's definitely a weaker result than most pre-profit companies report. The swift share price decline at an annual compound rate of 26%, reflects this weak fundamental performance. We prefer leave it to clowns to try to catch falling knives, like this stock. There is a good reason that investors often describe buying a sharply falling stock price as 'trying to catch a falling knife'. Think about it.

You can see how earnings and revenue have changed over time in the image below (click on the chart to see the exact values).

earnings-and-revenue-growth

This free interactive report on Energy Resources of Australia's balance sheet strength is a great place to start, if you want to investigate the stock further.

What About The Total Shareholder Return (TSR)?

Investors should note that there's a difference between Energy Resources of Australia's total shareholder return (TSR) and its share price change, which we've covered above. The TSR attempts to capture the value of dividends (as if they were reinvested) as well as any spin-offs or discounted capital raisings offered to shareholders. Energy Resources of Australia hasn't been paying dividends, but its TSR of -87% exceeds its share price return of -99%, implying it has either spun-off a business, or raised capital at a discount; thereby providing additional value to shareholders.

A Different Perspective

Investors in Energy Resources of Australia had a tough year, with a total loss of 56%, against a market gain of about 25%. Even the share prices of good stocks drop sometimes, but we want to see improvements in the fundamental metrics of a business, before getting too interested. Regrettably, last year's performance caps off a bad run, with the shareholders facing a total loss of 11% per year over five years. We realise that Baron Rothschild has said investors should "buy when there is blood on the streets", but we caution that investors should first be sure they are buying a high quality business. I find it very interesting to look at share price over the long term as a proxy for business performance. But to truly gain insight, we need to consider other information, too. Take risks, for example – Energy Resources of Australia has 4 warning signs (and 3 which are concerning) we think you should know about.

We will like Energy Resources of Australia better if we see some big insider buys. While we wait, check out this free list of undervalued stocks (mostly small caps) with considerable, recent, insider buying.

Please note, the market returns quoted in this article reflect the market weighted average returns of stocks that currently trade on Australian exchanges.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) simplywallst.com.This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Brisbane, Queensland, Australia–(Newsfile Corp. – October 21, 2024) – Graphene Manufacturing Group Ltd. (TSXV: GMG) ("GMG" or the "Company") is pleased to provide a business update on the government engagement progress for the Company.

GMG continues to engage with various members of Australian Federal Government including a recent visit to the Australian Parliament in Canberra, Australia's capital city, to see the Honourable Senator Tim Ayres, Assistant Minister for Trade and Assistant Minister for a Future Made In Australia, as seen in Figure 1, to discuss GMG's battery manufacturing progress and how a number of Federal Government policies including the Future Made in Australia Battery Breakthrough could potentially support GMG.

Figure 1: GMG CEO and CFCO meet with Honourable Senator Tim Ayres

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8082/227262_df55675e24530a0b_001full.jpg

GMG also met the Speaker of the House of Representatives the Honourable Milton Dick, as seen in Figure 2, to share GMG's progress since his visit to GMG's Facilities in Richlands Queensland in 2023 when Milton formally opened the Graphene coating blend plant.

Figure 2: GMG CEO and CFCO meet with Speaker of the House of Representatives Honourable Milton Dick

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8082/227262_df55675e24530a0b_002full.jpg

GMG also met Queensland Senator the Honourable Anthony Chisholm, as seen in Figure 3, to share GMG's progress since his visit to GMG's Facilities in Richlands Queensland in 2022.

Figure 3: GMG CEO and CFCO meet with Senator the Honourable Anthony Chisholm

To view an enhanced version of this graphic, please visit:https://images.newsfilecorp.com/files/8082/227262_df55675e24530a0b_003full.jpg

GMG's Managing Director and CEO, Craig Nicol, commented: "GMG continues to engage Government at all levels, including local, state and federal government, with the aim to help ensure its leading energy saving and energy storage products align with government policy to support the energy transition."

GMG's Chairman and Director, Jack Perkowski, commented: "We believe that Engagement with Government is important in the very dynamic markets GMG is focused on selling its product into, and we plan to continue engaging with Government as policies are rolled out in various key markets around the world."

About THERMAL-XR® powered by GMG Graphene:

THERMAL-XR® COATING SYSTEM is a unique method of improving the conductivity of corroded heat exchange surfaces and improving and maintaining the performance of new units at peak levels. The process coats and protects heat exchange surfaces while improving and rebuilding the lost corroded thermal conductivity and increasing the heat transfer rate by leveraging the physics of GMG Graphene, resulting in an efficiency improvement and a potential power reduction.

THERMAL-XR RESTORE® is powered by GMG Graphene. PATENT PENDING

About GMG www.graphenemg.com

GMG is a clean-technology company which seeks to offer energy saving and energy storage solutions, enabled by graphene, including that manufactured in-house via a proprietary production process. GMG has developed a proprietary production process to decompose natural gas (i.e. methane) into its elements, carbon (as graphene), hydrogen and some residual hydrocarbon gases. This process produces high quality, low cost, scalable, 'tuneable' and low/no contaminant graphene suitable for use in clean-technology and other applications.

The Company's present focus is to de-risk and develop commercial scale-up capabilities, and secure market applications. In the energy savings segment, GMG has focused on graphene enhanced heating, ventilation and air conditioning ("HVAC-R") coating (or energy-saving coating), lubricants and fluids.

In the energy storage segment, GMG and the University of Queensland are working collaboratively with financial support from the Australian Government to progress R&D and commercialization of graphene aluminium-ion batteries ("G+AI Batteries").

GMG's 4 critical business objectives are:

Produce Graphene and improve/scale cell production processes

Build Revenue from Energy Savings Products

Develop Next-Generation Battery

Develop Supply Chain, Partners & Project Execution Capability

For further information please contact:

• Craig Nicol, Chief Executive Officer & Managing Director of the Company at craig.nicol@graphenemg.com, +61 415 445 223

• Leo Karabelas at Focus Communications Investor Relations, leo@fcir.ca, +1 647 689 6041

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This news release includes certain statements and information that may constitute forward-looking information within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws. Forward-looking statements relate to future events or future performance and reflect the expectations or beliefs of management of the Company regarding future events. Generally, forward-looking statements and information can be identified by the use of forward-looking terminology such as "intends", "expects" or "anticipates", or variations of such words and phrases or statements that certain actions, events or results "may", "could", "should", "would" or will "potentially" or "likely" occur. This information and these statements, referred to herein as "forward‐looking statements", are not historical facts, are made as of the date of this news release and include without limitation, the potential for Federal Government policies to support GMG, the Company's belief that Engagement with Government could support GMG and help ensure its products align with government policy to support the energy transition, the potential for THERMAL-XR® to enable energy producers to produce additional energy more efficiently, the Company's goal of achieving optimal production line performance for THERMAL-XR® and the entering of full production.

Such forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions of management, including, without limitation, assumptions that Federal Government policies could support GMG, that Engagement with Government could help support GMG and help ensure its products align with government policy to support the energy transition, assumptions regarding the development of extensions and enhancements to the THERMAL-XR® portfolio into a wider range of applications, that energy producers will be able to derive the expected benefits from the Company's products, and that the Company will be able to achieve optimal production line performance for THERMAL-XR® and enter full production. Additionally, forward-looking information involves a variety of known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements of GMG to be materially different from any future plans, intentions, activities, results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such risks include, without limitation: that Federal Government policies do not support GMG to the extend expected or at all, that Engagement with Government does not support GMG and/or does not ensure its products align with government policy to support the energy transition to the extend expected or at all, that there will be no developments of extensions or enhancements to the THERMAL-XR® portfolio into a wider range of applications, that energy producers will not derive the expected benefits from the Company's products, that the Company will be unable to achieve optimal production line performance for THERMAL-XR® or enter full production, risks relating to the extent and duration of the conflict in Eastern Europe and its impact on global markets, the volatility of global capital markets, political instability, the failure of the Company to obtain regulatory approvals, attract and retain skilled personnel, unexpected development and production challenges, unanticipated costs and the risk factors set out under the heading "Risk Factors" in the Company's annual information form dated October 3, 2024 available for review on the Company's profile at www.sedarplus.ca.

Although management of the Company has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements or forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements and forward-looking information. Readers are cautioned that reliance on such information may not be appropriate for other purposes. The Company does not undertake to update any forward-looking statement, forward-looking information or financial out-look that are incorporated by reference herein, except in accordance with applicable securities laws. We seek safe harbor.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/227262

The FTSE 100, European markets and US stock indexes were in the red on Monday, as attention turned to megacap earnings reports. Earlier this morning, the mood was sunnier for commodity stocks as the People's Bank of China cut lending rates.

• The FTSE 100 (^FTSE) was 0.4% lower by the end of the trading day. In early trade it had been led upwards by mining stocks such as Fresnillo (FRES.L), Glencore (GLEN.L) and Antofagasta (ANTO.L), which gained on rate cut news from China. Strong business activity in China tends to lift the stock prices of companies selling raw materials.

• The DAX (^GDAXI) was 0.9% lower in Germany, while France's CAC (^FCHI) was 1% lower.

• The pan-European STOXX 600 (^STOXX) fell 0.6%.

• Over in the US, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) fell 0.6% at the opening bell, while the Dow (^DJI) pulled 0.8% downwards. The Nasdaq (^IXIC) fell 0.5%, after gaining earlier.

• Investors are on edge for Tesla's (TSLA) report on Wednesday, after its robotaxi unveiling fell short of expectations. The EV maker is the highlight of the week amid questions about Big Tech performance, even after Netflix's (NFLX) strong kickoff to the megacap season.

• General Motors (GM), Coca-Cola (KO), American Airlines (AAL), and UPS (UPS) are among several other big hitters on the earnings docket this week.

• The People's Bank of China made expected moves to cut rates earlier on Monday, reducing both its two and five-year rate by 25 basis points. The two-year rate is 3.1% and the five-year rate stands at 3.6%.

• Gold (GC=F) prices rose 0.2% to $2,735 a troy ounce by the end of the London session, below all-time highs.

Follow along for live updates:

LIVE COVERAGE IS OVER15 updates

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 10:22 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownDisney to announce Iger successor in 2026

  Our US team writes:

  Disney (DIS) plans to announce its next CEO in early 2026, the first timeline the company has publicly given for appointing a successor to current chief Bob Iger.

  The media giant made the announcement on Monday while simultaneously revealing that current board member and former Morgan Stanley (MS) CEO James Gorman will serve as the board’s new chairman, effective Jan. 2, 2025. He will exit his role as executive chairman at Morgan Stanley on Dec. 31.

  “A critical priority before us is to appoint a new CEO, which we now expect to announce in early 2026,” Gorman said in a press release. “This timing reflects the progress the Succession Planning Committee and the Board are making, and will allow ample time for a successful transition before the conclusion of Bob Iger’s contract in December 2026.”

  READ MORE

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 10:17 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeown’Risk appetite in check’

  Chris Beauchamp, Chief Market Analyst at online trading platform IG said:

  “US earnings season has entered one of those odd fallow periods that sees still-young reporting period in a lull, bereft of major names. Combined with an equally-empty calendar, this means that markets have struggled to make much headway in today’s session. Without such news to distract them, thoughts have turned back to the Middle East situation, leading to investors switching to risk-off mode.”

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 8:54 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownMicrosoft rolls out bot for routine work tasks

  Pedro Goncalves writes:

  Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft (MSFT), has compared the transformative potential of AI with the industrial revolution, as the company launched new tools designed to help businesses streamline operations.

  Speaking at Microsoft’s AI Tour event in London, Nadella said the goal is to “empower people to do things that they couldn’t do previously.”

  One of the leading investors in AI, Microsoft announced the rollout of its Copilot AI features, which aim to enhance business productivity by automating routine administrative tasks. These AI tools, known as autonomous agents, are custom-built applications that can handle specific tasks, freeing up employees to focus on more strategic work.

  READ MORE

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 8:32 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownHow US stocks are faring at the opening bell
• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 7:04 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownNokia stages recovery

  Shares in Finnish telecommunications company Nokia have seen some recovery after falling last week following the release of its third-quarter results.

  Nokia posted a 7% fall in net sales year-on-year, citing a decline in its mobile networks business, primarily in India, as well as divestment in cloud and network services.

  However, the company said its comparable gross margin year-on-year had increased to nearly 46%. Nokia said its full-year outlook for 2024 remained unchanged, expecting operating profits of between €2.3bn and €2.9bn.

  Nokia also said it continued to make “significant progress” in its cost savings programme, with a €500m run-rate in gross savings actioned.

  Reuters reported that Nokia had laid off nearly 2,000 people in China and planned to cut another 350 job in Europe as part if its cost savings measures.

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 5:35 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownVolkswagen fined £5.4m by FCAFILE PHOTO: The Volkswagen logo is displayed on the Volkswagen power plant on the day when Volkswagen AG and the industrial union IG Metall started talks over a new labor agreement for six of its German plants, in Wolfsburg, Germany, September 25, 2024. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/File Photo (Reuters / Reuters)

  Volkswagen’s financial services arm has been slapped with a £5.4m fine by the UK’s financial regulator for treating customers in financial difficulty unfairly.

  Volkswagen Finance has agreed to pay over £21.5m in redress to around 110,000 customers who may have suffered harm because of its failings, the FCA said.

  The problem: Between 1 January 2017 and 31 July 2023, Volkswagen Finance failed to understand customers’ individual circumstances or to provide support tailored to their needs. This meant that, in some cases, Volkswagen Finance took cars away from vulnerable customers without considering other options. This risked people being put in a worse position, particularly if they relied on their car to travel to work. Volkswagen Finance’s failings were compounded by poor templated and automated communications.

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 5:07 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownBoeing stock ticks up in premarket

  Vicky McKeever writes:

  US plane maker Boeing is heading into a busy week, with investors watching developments closely around its costly labour strike, as well as its latest quarterly results.

  More than 33,000 unionised workers, who have been on strike for more than a month, are set to vote on Wednesday whether they will accept Boeing’s offer of a 35% pay rise over four years.

  Boeing said last week that it was aiming to secure $35bn (£27bn) in funding to shore up its balance sheet, as the company continued to deal with the labour dispute with its largest union.

  Just days before that, Boeing released its preliminary third-quarter results, with the planemaker saying it expected to report a GAAP loss per share of $9.97, with operating cash flow of -$1.3 billion.

  The company also said it would end production of its 767 tanker jet and push back the release of its upcoming 777X widebody jet.

  In addition, new CEO Kelly Ortberg also announced the company would lay off 10% of its labor force, or around 17,000 employees.

  On Sunday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Boeing was exploring the sale of assets to bolster its finances.

  Investors will be looking for more detail on the company’s financial situation when it releases its full third-quarter results on Wednesday.

  Shares were up 3.4% in pre-market trading on Monday morning but are down nearly 41% year-to-date.

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 4:20 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownUK consumer sentiment regains steam in October

  The latest S&P Global release on UK consumer sentiment says:

  • Consumer Sentiment Index (CSI) lifted higher in October, moving closer to July’s 37-month high

  • Outlook for household finances turned positive

  • Positive income growth and slower inflation bolstered household confidence

  “Confidence is being supported first and foremost by the strong labour market, with the survey showing both job security and income from employment improving at some of the fastest rates seen since data were first collected in 2009,” said Maryam Baluch, economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence.

  “An easing of inflation worries, combined with expectations of a further lowering of interest rates, has also helped allay worries over the cost of living.”

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 3:34 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownSterling slips against the dollar

  Sterling was lower against the dollar, slipping 0.2% to $1.3025 in early European trading, after tumbling to a near two-month low against the greenback last week, following weaker-than-expected UK inflation data.

  Sterling initially showed resilience, buoyed by positive domestic jobs data. Despite a slowdown in wage growth, an unexpected drop in the UK’s unemployment rate lent support to the currency early in the week.

  However, the rally was short-lived. On Wednesday, the release of softer-than-anticipated inflation figures sent the pound sharply lower. The UK’s consumer price index (CPI) for September showed headline inflation easing from 2.2% to 1.7%, below market expectations of 1.9%, and significantly under the Bank of England’s (BoE) 2% target.

  READ MORE: Today’s pound, gold and oil prices in focus: commodity and currency check, 21 October

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 2:40 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownAverage UK house price hits £371,958 ahead of budget

  Our reporter Pedro Goncalves writes:

  The average asking price for properties coming to market in the UK has risen by 0.3% this month, equivalent to £1,199, bringing the total to £371,958, a small uptick as most owners are pricing homes to sell quickly.

  This increase falls short of the typical October rise of 1.3%, amid a surge in buyer choice, which has reached levels not seen in a decade, according to property website Rightmove.

  With a broader array of properties available, buyers are leveraging their newfound negotiating power, keeping price increases in check. Market activity, however, remains strong despite the uncertainty and fears surrounding the upcoming autumn budget.

  FULL STORY HERE

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 2:24 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownChina cuts key lending rates

  Over in Asia stocks in Hong Kong received a knock, despite the Chinese central bank’s efforts to support the economy by slashing lending rates.

  The People’s Bank of China made the expected move of cutting benchmark lending rates: the one-year loan prime rate was cut to 3.1% from 3.35% and the five-year LPR dropped rom 3.85% to 3.6%.

  The Hang Seng (^HSI) headed for a close 1.4% lower, dragged down in part by banking stocks.

  Over in Japan, the Nikkei (^N225) fell 0.1% in the session.

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 2:14 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownEarning reports we’re monitoring this week:

  In terms of US markets, we’re set for reports from:

  • Tesla (TSLA)

  • Boeing (BA)

  • General Motors (GM)

  • American Airlines (AAL)

  • UPS (UPS)

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 2:12 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownHow US stocks are faring in premarket

  Stocks hovered in premarket trade on Monday, with the three major indexes flirting with the flatline.

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 2:11 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownFriday trade in the US

  Our US team writes:

  US stocks notched records and extended impressive streaks Friday as Netflix (NFLX) delivered powerful earnings and set the stage for Big Tech’s corporate results in the coming days.

  The S&P 500 (^GSPC) added about 0.4% and recorded a fresh all-time high, as well as its sixth straight week of gains, the longest streak in 2024. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) moved up 0.6%, leading gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) rose 0.1% after hitting a new closing high the day before.

  The major stock gauges logged weekly wins after a strong showing by big banks to kick off earnings season. The Dow grabbed the top of the weekly chart, adding 0.9%, followed by the S&P 500, which increased 0.8%, and the Nasdaq’s 0.7% gain.

  Netflix’s results late Thursday relieved some worries that Big Tech names might struggle in the third quarter as they did in the last. The streaming giant’s profit surged to outstrip Wall Street estimates, while revenue and subscriber growth also came in stronger than expected. Its shares jumped around 11%.

• Mon, October 21, 2024 at 2:09 AM CDTLucy Harley-McKeownGood morning!

  Hello from London. Lucy Harley-McKeown here, ready to bring you another week of markets news. The temperature has dropped in London — but the mood appears to be positive in premarket for the FTSE 100 (^FTSE).

  Coming up later we’ll be watching Microsoft’s event on AI at work, featuring CEO Satya Nadella and UK CEO Clare Barclay.

  Let’s get to it.

By Sam Tobin

LONDON (Reuters) -BHP is cynically trying to avoid its responsibility for Brazil's worst environmental disaster, lawyers representing thousands of victims told London's High Court on Monday, as a lawsuit worth up to 36 billion pounds ($47 billion) began.

More than 600,000 Brazilians, 46 local governments and around 2,000 businesses are suing BHP over the 2015 collapse of the Mariana dam in southeastern Brazil, which was owned and operated by BHP and Vale's Samarco joint venture.

The dam's collapse unleashed a wave of toxic sludge that killed 19 people, left thousands homeless, flooded forests and polluted the length of the Doce River.

BHP, the world's biggest miner by market value, is contesting liability and says the London lawsuit duplicates legal proceedings and reparation and repair programmes in Brazil and should be thrown out.

It also says nearly $8 billion has already been paid to those affected through the Renova Foundation, with around $1.7 billion going to claimants involved in the English case.

The lawsuit, one of the largest in English legal history, entered a decisive stage on Monday with the beginning of a 12-week trial to determine whether BHP is liable.

The claimants' lawyer Alain Choo Choy said in court filings made public on Monday that "there is a chasm between what BHP regards as 'acceptable' and the compensation to which the claimants consider themselves legally and morally entitled".

He argued that BHP's actions in fighting the case and funding separate litigation in Brazil showed the miner was "cynically and doggedly trying to avoid" responsibility.

"Although that is BHP's choice, it cannot properly now claim to be a company 'doing the right thing' by the victims of the disaster," Choo Choy added.

'EXAGGERATED'

BHP argues it did not own or operate the dam, which held minings waste known as tailings. It said a Brazilian subsidiary of its Australian holding company was a 50% shareholder in Samarco, which operated independently.

The miner also said it had no knowledge the dam's stability was compromised before it collapsed.

Lawyers representing the miner said in court filings: "There is no law or contract which imposed any duty of safety on the ultimate parent company of a non-controlling shareholder and the other parent company in the same corporate group.

"Nor was there any breach of such duty of safety. And nor did BHP's acts or omissions cause the collapse."

BHP also said that parts of the lawsuit were "implausible or exaggerated".

Monday's hearing follows developments in BHP's negotiations with the Brazilian authorities over the disaster. The Brazilian government is discussing a nearly $30 billion compensation deal with BHP, Vale and Samarco, they said on Friday.

Tom Goodhead, CEO of Pogust Goodhead, the law firm representing the claimants, told reporters that the victims of the disaster were not involved in the planned deal.

"People just feel it's too little, too late," he said outside the High Court. "They want to go ahead with the trial, hold them accountable."

BHP said in a statement that it is trying to "finalise a fair and comprehensive compensation and rehabilitation process".

The 12-week hearing will also consider whether the Brazilian municipalities are permitted to bring legal action, the impact of any agreements reached with BHP by claimants involved in the English lawsuit and whether the claims were brought too late.

(Reporting by Sam TobinEditing by Mark Potter and Barbara Lewis)

BHP Group BHP announced that its iron ore production rose 2% year over year to 64.6 Mt in the first quarter of fiscal 2025 (ended Sept. 30, 2024). This was attributed to an increase in production at Western Australia Iron Ore (WAIO) following the commissioning of the Port Debottlenecking Project and completion of the South Flank ramp-up.

Iron ore production at Samarco increased 4% in the quarter due to the early resumption of Pelletizing Plant No. 4. BHP’s iron ore production guidance for fiscal 2025 remains unchanged at 255-265.5 Mt. WAIO's production is expected to be between 250 Mt and 260 Mt (282 Mt and 294 Mt on a 100% basis).

BHP Reports a 4% Rise in Copper Production

BHP’s copper output improved 4% year over year to 476 kt in the first quarter of fiscal 2025.

Copper production at Escondida increased 11% year over year as mining progressed into areas of higher-grade ore as well as increased concentrator feed grade. This was partially offset by planned lower cathode production.

Copper output at Pampa Norte slumped 23%. Production at Spence was down 13% due to lower cathode production as a result of planned quarterly maintenance at the concentrator and a decline in stacked feed grade.

Production was down on a year-over-year basis reflecting the impact of Cerro Colorado entering temporary care and maintenance in December 2023. It had contributed 9.5 kt of copper output in the first quarter of fiscal 2024.

Production from Copper South Australia was reported at 73 kt, 2% higher than the prior fiscal quarter aided by upbeat underlying operational performance. Production was lower at Prominent Hill due to minor pit geotechnical instability and ventilation constraints, which impacted trucking capacity and production. BHP assured that these issues have been rectified.

Antamina’s copper production rose 12% to 36 kt on higher ore grade and recoveries, partially offset by planned lower concentrator throughput.

The company expects copper production within the range of 1,845-2,045 kt in fiscal 2024.

BHP Temporarily Suspends Nickel West Operations

Nickel production was down 3% year over year to 19.6 kt in the fiscal first quarter. This reflected BHP’s decision to temporarily suspend the Nickel West operation starting in October 2024, citing lower nickel prices.

Starting January 2025, BHP plans to invest around $300 million annually to keep the operation in readiness for a potential restart in case the market rebounds.

BHP’s Energy & Steelmaking Coal Output Up Y/Y

Energy coal production rose 2% year over year to 3.7 Mt in the quarter. Steelmaking coal production was 4.5 Mt, which declined 19% from the year-ago quarter. Production in the first quarter of fiscal 2024 included 1.8 Mt (3.7 Mt on a 100% basis) from the Blackwater and Daunia mines that were divested on April 2, 2024. Excluding these volumes, production of steelmaking coal was up 20% year over year.

Production guidance for steelmaking coal is in the band of 16.5-19 Mt while energy coal guidance in the range of 13 Mt to 15 Mt in fiscal 2025.

BHP Sees Lower Average Iron Ore Prices, Rising Copper Prices

In the fiscal first quarter, average realized prices for iron ore were down 18% year over year to $80.10 per ton. Copper prices were up 17% to $4.24 per pound. Average nickel prices were $16,359 per ton, down 20% from the year-ago quarter. Prices for thermal coal dipped 1% year over year to $124.32 per ton and steelmaking coal prices were down 9% to $214.86 per ton.

BHP’s Other Updates on Projects & Acquisitions

In July 2024, BHP and Lundin Mining Corporation LUNMF agreed to jointly acquire Filo Corp, which owns 100% of the Filo del Sol (FDS) copper project. BHP and Lundin Mining have also agreed to form a 50/50 joint venture to advance the FDS and Josemaria projects.

BHP commenced construction of Jansen Stage 2 for potash in fiscal 2024. It had been 4% completed in the fiscal first quarter.  Meanwhile, the Jansen Stage 1 has been 58% completed. The operating expenditure related to potash is expected to be around $300 million in the current fiscal 2025.

BHP’s Peer Performances

Vale S.A. VALE reported iron ore production of around 91 Mt for the third quarter of 2024, reflecting a 5.5% increase from the year-ago quarter. This marks VALE’s highest output since the fourth quarter of 2018, driven by improved operating performances at Itabira and Brucutu. The company’s iron ore production guidance for 2024 is in the range of 323-330 Mt.

Vale produced 85.9 kt of copper, which was 5.3% higher than the year-ago quarter. The company expects to produce copper in the range of 320 – 355 kt.

Rio Tinto RIO reported a 1% year-over-year improvement in its third-quarter (ended Sept. 30, 2024) iron ore production to 84.1 Mt (on a 100% basis) as productivity gains offset ore depletion. This brings RIO’s total iron ore output for the nine-month period to 242.9 Mt, a decline of 1% year over year.

Iron-ore shipments for the quarter (on a 100% basis) were reported at 84.5 Mt, up 1% year over year. Rio Tinto expects Pilbara iron ore shipments (100% basis) to be between 323 Mt and 338 Mt in 2024. The midpoint of the guidance indicates a year-over-year dip of 0.4%.

Copper production was 168 thousand tons in the third quarter, 1% lower than the year-ago quarter. RIO expects copper production to be between 660 thousand tons and 720 thousand tons in 2024, indicating 11.3% growth at the midpoint.

BHP’s Price Performance & Zacks Rank

BHP’s shares have dipped 0.7% in a year compared with the industry’s 3% growth.

Zacks Investment Research

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

BHP currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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Zacks Investment Research

Overview of the Recent Transaction

On September 30, 2024, State Street Corp executed a significant transaction involving the sale of 1,437,667 shares of Compass Minerals International Inc (NYSE:CMP), a notable player in the metals and mining sector. This move reduced their holding to 794,645 shares, reflecting a strategic adjustment in their investment portfolio. The shares were traded at a price of $12.02 each, marking a pivotal shift in State Street Corp's investment strategy.

Profile of State Street Corp

• Warning! GuruFocus has detected 5 Warning Signs with CMP.

State Street Corp, headquartered at One Lincoln Street, Boston, MA, is a prominent investment firm known for its robust portfolio management and strategic investment decisions. With a vast equity holding of $2,285.63 trillion, the firm has a significant influence in the financial markets, particularly in the technology and financial services sectors. Their top holdings include major corporations like Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN).

State Street Corp’s Strategic Reduction in Compass Minerals International IncIntroduction to Compass Minerals International Inc

Compass Minerals International Inc, trading under the symbol CMP, is primarily involved in the production of salt and specialty potash fertilizers. With key assets across North America and the United Kingdom, the company serves a diverse range of sectors from deicing to agriculture. The firm's strategic operations in potash and salt extraction have positioned it as a key player in the industry.

State Street Corp’s Strategic Reduction in Compass Minerals International IncFinancial and Market Analysis of Compass Minerals International Inc

As of the latest data, Compass Minerals holds a market capitalization of $565.031 million with a current stock price of $13.67. Despite a challenging market environment indicated by a year-to-date price decline of 45.12%, the stock has seen a recent upturn with a 13.73% gain since the transaction date. The company's valuation metrics suggest caution, with a GF Value of $30.47 and a price to GF Value ratio of 0.45, signaling a potential value trap scenario.

Impact of the Trade on State Street Corp's Portfolio

The recent transaction has notably decreased Compass Minerals' position in State Street Corp's extensive portfolio, now constituting only 1.90% of their holdings. This reduction aligns with the firm's strategic realignment, possibly due to the stock's underwhelming financial performance and market valuation concerns.

Sector and Market Considerations

State Street Corp primarily invests in technology and financial services, sectors that generally promise high growth and stability. The decision to reduce exposure to the metals and mining sector, represented by Compass Minerals, may reflect a strategic shift towards more lucrative and stable investments, considering the volatile nature of commodity-based industries.

Future Outlook and Analyst Insights

Compass Minerals, with a GF Score of 55, indicates a potential for poor future performance. Analysts are cautious, given the company's financial struggles, including a significant debt load and negative profitability metrics. The future performance of CMP will likely hinge on its ability to improve operational efficiency and market conditions in the metals and mining sector.

Conclusion

State Street Corp's recent reduction in Compass Minerals International Inc reflects a strategic pivot within its investment portfolio, possibly due to the challenging financial metrics and uncertain future of the metals and mining sector. For value investors, this move highlights the importance of continuous portfolio assessment and realignment in response to changing market conditions and company fundamentals.

This article, generated by GuruFocus, is designed to provide general insights and is not tailored financial advice. Our commentary is rooted in historical data and analyst projections, utilizing an impartial methodology, and is not intended to serve as specific investment guidance. It does not formulate a recommendation to purchase or divest any stock and does not consider individual investment objectives or financial circumstances. Our objective is to deliver long-term, fundamental data-driven analysis. Be aware that our analysis might not incorporate the most recent, price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative information. GuruFocus holds no position in the stocks mentioned herein.

This article first appeared on GuruFocus.

Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – October 17, 2024) – Miles Thompson announced that he has acquired ownership of 230,770 common shares (representing 0.5% of the outstanding common shares) of Lara Exploration Ltd. (TSXV: LRA) ("Lara") of Vancouver, BC. The common shares were acquired pursuant to the exercise of share purchase warrants exercisable at $1.00 each.

Immediately prior to the acquisition, Mr. Thompson owned and had control and direction over 4,544,373 common shares (representing 9.84% of Lara's outstanding common shares), stock options to purchase an additional 700,000 common shares under Lara's Stock Option Plan and the above noted share purchase warrants. If the options were exercised together with the share purchase warrants, Mr. Thompson would have had ownership of 5,475,143 common shares (representing 11.63% of the outstanding common shares on a partially diluted basis) of Lara.

Mr. Thompson now owns and has control and direction over 4,775,143 common shares (representing 10.14% of Lara's outstanding common shares), and stock options to purchase an additional 700,000 common shares. If the 700,000 stock options were exercised, Mr. Thompson would own and have control and direction over 5,475,143 common shares (representing 11.63% of the outstanding common shares on a partially diluted basis) of Lara.

The shares were acquired today for investment purposes under the prospectus exemption set out in section 2.24 [Employee, executive officer, director and consultant] of National Instrument 45-106 Prospectus Exemptions of the Canadian Securities Administrators. Presently, Mr. Thompson does not have any intention of acquiring any further securities of Lara. However, Mr. Thompson may acquire or dispose of securities of Lara in the open market, in privately negotiated transactions or otherwise, including through the exercise of the Options. Mr. Thompson's decision to acquire or dispose of securities of the Issuer will depend on general market conditions and other factors.

Mr. Thompson will file an Early Warning Report with the British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario Securities Commissions in respect of the acquisition. Copies of the Report may be obtained from SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) or without charge from Lara or me.

Contact: Miles Thompson(+) 1-604-669-8777

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/226946

Vancouver, British Columbia–(Newsfile Corp. – October 17, 2024) – Lara Exploration Ltd. (TSXV: LRA) ("Lara" or the "Company") is pleased to report that it has filed an independent technical report (the "Technical Report") prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 – Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") supporting the initial resource estimate on its 100% owned Planalto Copper-Gold Project in the Carajás Mineral Province of northern Brazil.

The Technical Report, titled "Independent Technical Report on Mineral Resources Estimate for the Planalto Project, Canaã dos Carajás/Pará, Brazil", dated September 5, 2024, with an effective date of July 3, 2024, may be found under the Company's issuer profile on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca), with a copy also available on the Company's website at www.laraexploration.com. The Technical Report was authored by Leonardo de Moraes Soares, MSc (Geo), MAIG and Paulo Bergmann, BSc (Min Eng), FAusIMM, both of GE21 Consultoria Mineral Ltda. There are no material differences in the Technical Report from those results disclosed in the Company's news release dated October 9, 2024, or those disclosed below.

The Planalto Copper Project is located between Vale's Sossego copper mine and Cristalino copper deposit, and BHP's Pedra Branca copper mine and Antas mill, in the Carajás Mineral Province of northern Brazil. The Mineral Resources summarized in Table 1., contain a shallow dipping higher grade Main Mineralization domain, surrounded by a lower grade Host Rock Mineralization domain, constrained within an open pit shell representing a reasonable prospect of eventual economic extraction (RPEE). The Indicated Resources are estimated to be 47.7 million tonnes (Mt) at an average grade of 0.53% copper (Cu) and 0.06 grams per tonne (g/t) gold (Au), or 0.56% copper-equivalent (CuEq), containing 253 thousand tonnes (0.56 billion pounds) Cu or 267 thousand tonnes (0.59 billion pounds) CuEq. Inferred Resources are estimated to be 154 Mt at an average grade of 0.36%Cu and 0.04g/t Au, or 0.38%CuEq, containing 549 thousand tonnes (1.2 billion pounds) Cu or 585 thousand tonnes (1.3 billion pounds) CuEq.

Table 1: Mineral Resource Statement as at July 03, 2024 for the Planalto Deposit

Resource Category	Domain	Resource(Mt)	Cu grade(%)	Copper Equivalent( %)	Au grade(g/t)	Cu(Kt)	Cu(Mlbs)	Au(Koz)
Indicated	Main Mineralization	47.7	0.53	0.56	0.06	253	557	92
	Host Rock Mineralization	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Total Indicated		47.7	0.53	0.56	0.06	253	557	92
Inferred	Main Mineralization	77.7	0.51	0.54	0.06	396	874	149.9
	Host Rock Mineralization	76.3	0.2	0.22	0.03	153	336	73.6
Total Inferred		154.0	0.36	0.38	0.04	549	1210	223.5

 

Notes related to the Mineral Resource Estimate:

The Mineral Resource Estimate (MRE) was restricted by a pit shell defined using metal prices of 10,000 US$/t Cu and 2,200 US$/oz Au, mining cost of 2.9 US$/t mined, processing and G&A cost of 11.50 US$/t processed. Process recovery of 88% Cu and 68% Au. Concentrate transport and selling costs of 208 US$/t concentrate. Commercial smelter terms, copper treatment and refining charges 59.5 US$/t concentrate, 0.06 US$/t metal, gold refining charge 4.47 US$/Oz.

Indicated and Inferred Resources are reported above a 0.16 % copper-equivalent cut off.

Copper-equivalent grade (CuEq) = Cu grade + ((Au Recovery x Au price x Payable Au) / (Cu Recovery x Cu price x Percentage Payable for Cu in NSR)) x Au grade, where: Payable Au = 90% and Percentage Payable for Cu in NSR = 83.7%.

The MRE contains fresh rock domains only, the oxide mineralization is not reported.

Grades reported using dry density.

The MRE is within Planalto Mineração tenement areas.

The MRE was estimated using ordinary kriging in 40m x 40m x 20m blocks with sub-blocks of 10m x 10m x 5m.

The MRE was produced using Leapfrog Geo software.

The MRE was prepared in accordance with the CIM Standards, and the CIM Guidelines, using geostatistical and/or classical methods, plus economic and mining parameters appropriate to the deposit.

The effective date of the MRE is July 3rd, 2024.

The QP responsible for the Mineral Resources Estimate is geologist Leonardo Soares (MAIG #5180).

Mineral Resources are not ore reserves and are not demonstrably economically recoverable.

The MRE numbers provided have been rounded to estimate relative precision. Values may not be added due to rounding.

Qualified Person

Mr. Leonardo de Moraes Soares MAIG, is a Qualified Person under NI 43-101 and is an independent consultant to the Company. Mr. Moraes co-authored the Technical Report, signed off on the Mineral Resource Statement and approved the technical disclosure in this release.

Mr Michael Bennell BSc, MSc, FAusIMM, is a Qualified Person under NI 43-101 and is the Vice President Exploration of the Company. Mr. Bennell approved the technical disclosure in this release and has verified the data disclosed.

About Lara Exploration

Lara is an exploration company following the Prospect and Royalty Generator business model, which aims to minimize shareholder dilution and financial risk by generating prospects and exploring them in joint ventures funded by partners, retaining a minority interest and or a royalty. The Company currently holds a diverse portfolio of prospects, deposits and royalties in Brazil, Peru and Chile. Lara's common shares trade on the TSX Venture Exchange under the symbol "LRA".

For further information on Lara Exploration Ltd. please consult our website www.laraexploration.com, or contact Chris MacIntyre, VP Corporate Development, at +1 416 703 0010.

Neither the TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release. No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the information contained herein.

Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information

This news release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities legislation based on expectations, estimates and projections as at the date of this news release. Any statement that involves predictions, expectations, interpretations, beliefs, plans, projections, objectives, assumptions, future events or performance are not statements of historical fact and constitute forward-looking information. This news release may contain forward-looking information pertaining to the Planalto Copper-Gold Project, including, among other things, the ability to identify additional resources and reserves (if any) and exploit such resources and reserves on an economic basis; the preparation of a Preliminary Economic Assessment; the conduct of additional drilling; and upgrading of current mineral resource estimates.

Forward-looking information is not a guarantee of future performance and is based upon a number of estimates and assumptions of management, in light of management's experience and perception of trends, current conditions and expected developments, as well as other factors that management believes to be relevant and reasonable in the circumstances, including, without limitation, assumptions about: favourable equity and debt capital markets; the ability and timing of funding to advance the development of the Planalto Project and pursue planned exploration and development; future spot prices of copper, gold and other minerals; the timing and results of exploration and drilling programs; the accuracy of mineral resource estimates; production costs; political and regulatory stability; the receipt of governmental and third party approvals; licenses and permits being received on favourable terms; sustained labour stability; stability in financial and capital markets; availability of mining equipment and positive relations with local communities and groups. Forward-looking information involves risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual events, results, performance, prospects and opportunities to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from such forward-looking information are set out in the Company's public disclosure record on SEDAR+ (www.sedarplus.ca) under the Company's issuer profile. Although the Company believes that the assumptions and factors used in preparing the forward-looking information in this news release are reasonable, undue reliance should not be placed on such information, which only applies as of the date of this news release, and no assurance can be given that such events will occur in the disclosed time frames or at all. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward- looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, other than as required by law.

To view the source version of this press release, please visit https://www.newsfilecorp.com/release/226857

Centrus Energy Corp. (LEU) shares rallied 26.3% in the last trading session to close at $77.39. This move can be attributable to notable volume with a higher number of shares being traded than in a typical session. This compares to the stock's 53.8% gain over the past four weeks.

Centrus Energy’s shares surged on the news that Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing arm of Amazon (AMZN) has signed three new agreements to support the development of nuclear energy projects—including enabling the construction of several new Small Modular Reactors (SMRs).

Recently, Centrus Energy’s subsidiary, American Centrifuge Operating, LLC won an award from the U.S. Department of Energy to support the deployment of technology and equipment to deconvert High-Assay, Low-Enriched Uranium (HALEU) from uranium hexafluoride (UF6) to uranium oxide and/or uranium metal forms, a key step in the nuclear fuel production process.  This award is an important step toward expanding and diversifying the capabilities of the company’s Ohio facility.

This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.18 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -65.4%. Revenues are expected to be $56.5 million, up 10.1% from the year-ago quarter.

While earnings and revenue growth expectations are important in evaluating the potential strength in a stock, empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

For Centrus Energy, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. And a stock's price usually doesn't keep moving higher in the absence of any trend in earnings estimate revisions. So, make sure to keep an eye on LEU going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

Centrus Energy is part of the Zacks Mining – Non Ferrous industry. Lundin Mining (LUNMF), another stock in the same industry, closed the last trading session 3.3% higher at $10.49. LUNMF has returned 10.7% in the past month.

For Lundin , the consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has changed -11.8% over the past month to $0.19. This represents a change of +72.7% from what the company reported a year ago. Lundin currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

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Zacks Investment Research

The market expects Teck Resources Ltd (TECK) to deliver a year-over-year decline in earnings on lower revenues when it reports results for the quarter ended September 2024. This widely-known consensus outlook is important in assessing the company's earnings picture, but a powerful factor that might influence its near-term stock price is how the actual results compare to these estimates.

The earnings report, which is expected to be released on October 24, 2024, might help the stock move higher if these key numbers are better than expectations. On the other hand, if they miss, the stock may move lower.

While the sustainability of the immediate price change and future earnings expectations will mostly depend on management's discussion of business conditions on the earnings call, it's worth handicapping the probability of a positive EPS surprise.

Zacks Consensus Estimate

This company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.38 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of -33.3%.

Revenues are expected to be $2.23 billion, down 17% from the year-ago quarter.

Estimate Revisions Trend

The consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has been revised 1.11% lower over the last 30 days to the current level. This is essentially a reflection of how the covering analysts have collectively reassessed their initial estimates over this period.

Investors should keep in mind that an aggregate change may not always reflect the direction of estimate revisions by each of the covering analysts.

Earnings Whisper

Estimate revisions ahead of a company's earnings release offer clues to the business conditions for the period whose results are coming out. This insight is at the core of our proprietary surprise prediction model — the Zacks Earnings ESP (Expected Surprise Prediction).

The Zacks Earnings ESP compares the Most Accurate Estimate to the Zacks Consensus Estimate for the quarter; the Most Accurate Estimate is a more recent version of the Zacks Consensus EPS estimate. The idea here is that analysts revising their estimates right before an earnings release have the latest information, which could potentially be more accurate than what they and others contributing to the consensus had predicted earlier.

Thus, a positive or negative Earnings ESP reading theoretically indicates the likely deviation of the actual earnings from the consensus estimate. However, the model's predictive power is significant for positive ESP readings only.

A positive Earnings ESP is a strong predictor of an earnings beat, particularly when combined with a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold). Our research shows that stocks with this combination produce a positive surprise nearly 70% of the time, and a solid Zacks Rank actually increases the predictive power of Earnings ESP.

Please note that a negative Earnings ESP reading is not indicative of an earnings miss. Our research shows that it is difficult to predict an earnings beat with any degree of confidence for stocks with negative Earnings ESP readings and/or Zacks Rank of 4 (Sell) or 5 (Strong Sell).

How Have the Numbers Shaped Up for Teck Resources?

For Teck Resources, the Most Accurate Estimate is lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate, suggesting that analysts have recently become bearish on the company's earnings prospects. This has resulted in an Earnings ESP of -17.79%.

On the other hand, the stock currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3.

So, this combination makes it difficult to conclusively predict that Teck Resources will beat the consensus EPS estimate.

Does Earnings Surprise History Hold Any Clue?

Analysts often consider to what extent a company has been able to match consensus estimates in the past while calculating their estimates for its future earnings. So, it's worth taking a look at the surprise history for gauging its influence on the upcoming number.

For the last reported quarter, it was expected that Teck Resources would post earnings of $0.47 per share when it actually produced earnings of $0.58, delivering a surprise of +23.40%.

Over the last four quarters, the company has beaten consensus EPS estimates two times.

Bottom Line

An earnings beat or miss may not be the sole basis for a stock moving higher or lower. Many stocks end up losing ground despite an earnings beat due to other factors that disappoint investors. Similarly, unforeseen catalysts help a number of stocks gain despite an earnings miss.

That said, betting on stocks that are expected to beat earnings expectations does increase the odds of success. This is why it's worth checking a company's Earnings ESP and Zacks Rank ahead of its quarterly release. Make sure to utilize our Earnings ESP Filter to uncover the best stocks to buy or sell before they've reported.

Teck Resources doesn't appear a compelling earnings-beat candidate. However, investors should pay attention to other factors too for betting on this stock or staying away from it ahead of its earnings release.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

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