ITINERARY FOR DR KEVIN MORIARTY
TERRAMIN AUSTRALIA LIMITED ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS
27 MAY 2016
Welcome
Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen, my name is Michael Kennedy and I am the Deputy Chairman of the Company and I will chair today's Annual General Meeting of Terramin Australia Limited. On behalf of the Board of Directors, I warmly welcome you all to the 2016 Terramin Annual General Meeting.
Introduction of Directors and Company Secretary
I would like to introduce the Board of Terramin and senior management of the Company here today. The full details of their background and experience are included in the Annual Report and on the Company website.
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Mr Feng Sheng, the Chairman of the Company. Mr Sheng is also a principal of the Company's major shareholder, Asipac Group.
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Mr Angelo Siciliano who is a representative of Asipac Group and is a member of the Audit and Risk Committee and of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee.
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Mr Kevin McGuinness who is the Chair of the Audit and Risk Committee and the chair of the Nomination and Remuneration Committee. Kevin is an independent non- executive director.
I would like to pass on the apologies from Mr Xie who has not been able to travel to Australia for the AGM. Mr Xie represents China Non Ferrous Metals Industry's Engineering & Construction Co Ltd (NFC) on the Board of Terramin.
In addition, representing management, we have:
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Mr Martin Janes, who is the Chief Executive Officer of the Company;
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Mr Stéphane Gauducheau, our Legal Counsel and Company Secretary;
Mr Joe Ranford, our Chief Technical Officer usually joins us for the AGM but he is currently fully committed on the Bird-in-Hand Gold Project and was not able to make it this year.
I would also like to welcome Justin Humphrey, the audit partner of Grant Thornton, the Company's auditors.
Today's Annual General Meeting will be divided in four parts:
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First, I will provide a short address highlighting key points for the year 2015;
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Secondly, Martin will review the operational progress of the Company for the past year and will talk about our plans for the future;
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Then shareholders will have the opportunity to ask questions about the Company, my address or Martin's presentation;
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This will be followed by the formal business of the meeting, at which time I will take your questions specifically regarding each of the proposed resolutions.
Without pre-empting Martin's presentation regarding Terramin's progress over the past year, the status of our assets and positive outlook for the future, I would like say a few words about the progress of the Company's projects as well as our views on the Company's prospects in the near term.
Over the past year, management and the Board have continued to make progress towards the development of our key projects and have continued the work undertaken to build the business.
Regarding the Tala Hamza Zinc Project, following the agreement reached last year on the mining method, Terramin has continued working to agree with its Algerian partners on the finalisation of the revised feasibility study to take a decision to mine the Tala Hamza deposit. The partners agreed on the parameters of a geotechnical and hydrological work programme which are important to confirm the location of the mine portal, the TSF and surface infrastructure as well as determining the most appropriate water mitigations strategies. A drilling programme needs to be undertaken for this purpose and the project shareholders will meet next week to finalise the details of this programme.
In the path towards taking a decision to mine, it was also important for the project partners to visit an operating mine utilising the downward drift and fill mining method in order to confirm that the method was the most suitable in conditions similar to those found at Tala Hamza, from a safety and environmental perspective. The partners were very pleased with the visit in China and, in particular, the visit of the mine site N.3 in Jinchuan. This visit confirmed the partners' commitment to the mining method as it meets their objectives and expectations.
The progress towards the development of a mine has also been positively received by the Algerian regulator, ANAM, which re-issued the exploration licence for the purpose of carrying
out the geotechnical and hydrological programme to finalise the revised feasibility study.
The progress is particularly pleasing at a time when zinc prices are showing clear signs of improvement and the potential for significant growth. Driving that price improvement is, in part, due to the continuing fall in LME zinc stocks. On April 11, it was reported on Bloomberg that LME zinc stocks were at their lowest level in nearly seven years. This is essentially the result of a significant supply and demand imbalance. Demand, internationally, remains steady with China still largely driving it. While zinc demand growth has slowed in the country, it is still on the rise. Overall, global demand is set to rise 3.5 percent to 14.33 million tonnes this year, according to an April 2016 report from the International Lead-Zinc Study Group (ILZSG). At the same time, a number of larger mines have closed (or are closing) with little new supply set to come online to replace them. The Brunswick mine shut down in 2013, the first of a number of larger zinc operations. A number of market analysts estimate that approximately 10 percent of world supply has come off, not including more recent cuts
from Glencore and Nyrstar. MMG's Century Mine (said to be responsible for 4 percent of global supply) was closed late last year. We believe this trend will continue in the medium term. Again Martin will talk about this further.
Substantial progress has also been made with the Bird-in-Hand Gold Project.
The initial focus of the Company over the last year has been completing the very extensive water and environmental base line studies. These studies are largely complete so the emphasis is now on completing the engineering and other elements of the project design in preparation for the lodgement of a mining lease application later this year. Safety and the protection of the environment, as well as care for local stakeholders are key principles to Terramin operations and the work for this project has been designed and undertaken with these principles in mind. That's one of the reasons that Terramin has been planting more than 2000 native trees (with 20,000 to come this winter) on the land that it acquired last year. The freehold land acquired at Woodside is in close proximity to the Bird-in-Hand deposit and has allowed the Company to firm up plans to build the surface infrastructure. This makes it a very attractive proposition and, as noted above, the Company's priority for the project is to lodge a mining lease application and acquire all necessary approvals prior to expanding the ore resource further.
Again, Martin will provide an update on the Bird-in-Hand Gold Project.
On the corporate side, the Company is continuing to improve its balance sheet by reducing its debt and raising capital to advance its projects in a difficult context for mining companies. First, the holder of US$11million convertible notes decided to convert their notes into shares,
then the Asipac Group also converted their $16.2 million worth of notes into shares. This means that, at the end of last year, Terramin's debt was down from approximately $34 million in December 2014 to $8.3 million in December 2015. The Asipac Group has agreed to restructure it short term debt facility (totalling $8.3 million) into longer term debt facilities totalling $10m. The Board is pleased with the continued strong relationship with the Asipac Group. In addition, the Company welcomes two new investors who participated in a placement at the end of last year raising a total of $3 million towards the Company's projects.
Given Terramin's focus on progressing the Tala Hamza Zinc Project and the Bird-in-Hand Gold Project, exploration has been limited in the last year. However, following the withdrawal of Musgrave Minerals from Menninnie Dam, the Company has been actively discussing joint venture exploration opportunities within the Gawler Craton tenements in particular the northern tenements which have seen little exploration thus far.
Ladies and gentlemen, I sincerely believe that the progress made at the Bird-in-Hand Gold Project and the Tala Hamza Zinc Project are significant in our effort to advance the business of the Company and deliver value for shareholders. We look forward to updating you on further advances regarding the Company's projects.
I will now handover to the Company's CEO, Mr Martin Janes. I would like to thank you all for attending this year's AGM and thank shareholders for their continuing support for the Company. I would also like to thank the Board, management and employees for their continued dedication.
Michael Kennedy 27 May 2016