I just finished the Lynas conference call and I have never heard Amanda sound more positive about things overall. She basically covered everything occurring at the LAMP, Mt Weld and Kalgoorlie in a fair amount of detail but she deferred any conversation about the great financials simply saying the number speak for themselves…
It is rare to find a CEO who would rather discuss issues affecting the employees and community rather that crow about some pretty solid results but that is the way Amanda works. Another thing I noticed was Amanda referring to “the teams” rather than a specific people, just another little indicator of the cooperation in the company…
There was a theme that ran throughout the entire call with Amanda repeatedly referring to "accelerating growth" both within Lynas and external markets for future growth. Pol (VP of downstream) discussed the potential for future market growth and acknowledged the potential of the the auto industry. Pol also stressed that wind turbines will be a huge consumer of Nd/Pr as that technology goes online…
The drilling report from Mt. Weld is a subject that came up a couple of times and it certainly seems like the scope of the report is major and will define future sustainability of the mine. Amanda said the report will be released in the near future but don’t expect it overnight. (I did catch Amanda saying that the release of the results may not be imminent but they will be interesting)…
This is my take on the US venture. While Lynas continues in discussions with the US government it seems to me that Amanda is a bit irritated with the ways things are being handled. Think about this, MP was just handed a $35m contract to build Emerald City (from the Wizard of Oz) a facility that will supposedly produce most of the heavies to satisfy the US requirements for high-tech (including military) applications…
There is much speculation that the awarded contract was largely political but this doesn’t seem to even bother Amanda. I think Lynas would much rather build a heavy are earth processing facility where Lynas wants to build such a facility. It remains to be seen how the MP venture works out but I heard Amanda say that Lynas will be providing heavy rare earths to the market with or without the US government…
Lynas is spending nearly a half billion on the new Kalgoorlie cracking and leaching plant and they are doing with with significant amounts of IP and experience. One of the questions referred to the start up of the Kalgoorlie project and how much difficulty the commissioning of the LAMP and been. Amanda calmly replied that the engineers commissioning Kalgoorlie are the same engineers that commissioned the LAMP. IP and experience are extremely valuable and Lynas was smart enough to keep both through the slow times…
Amanda repeatedly spoke of capitalizing on down time by challenging the teams to come up with “innovative solutions” to make processes better and more efficient. She is very proud of the LAMP and she is just waiting for the chance to crank it up to 100%, she thinks it’s ready. Amanda also affirmed that the LAMP in Malaysia will be a crucial part of the Lynas future particularly since Malaysia is close the customers…
IMO, it’s hard to find an investment in the green industry that is truly a green investment and Lynas meets and exceeds that objective. The Lynas participation in Eco-Vadis (awarded gold medal) and becoming a signatory for the UNGC (United Nations Global Compact) all point to a commitment to social and environmental responsibility…
At the end of the day I feel that this is one of the best QR’s I have attended and clarity is increasing for many of us showing Lynas as a solid company that is dominating and defining the RE industry. While the financials paint a pretty solid picture it is the future that Amanda has her eye on. She developed and is successfully executing the Next 2025 business plan and she takes the time to explain both the progress and the finish line… It’s kinda nice to sit back and watch the show…. JMHO…
LYC Price at posting:
$9.34 Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
A personalised tool to help users track selected stocks. Delivering real-time notifications on price updates, announcements, and performance stats on each to help make informed investment decisions.
(20min delay)