9 November 2021 Lynas Rare Earths 2021 Annual General Meeting Address by Kathleen Conlon, Chairman As your Chairman, Im very pleased with the outcome of the 2021 financial year which delivered strong results for shareholders.
Operational improvements implemented in prior years, together with a continued focus on cost control, meant that we were well positioned to capture the benefits of strengthened market demand and market pricing. This resulted in a record annual Net Profit and increased sales revenue for the year.
The safety of our team members is always paramount and health and hygiene protocols were reinforced and strengthened at both operating sites during the year. The second half of the year was particularly challenging for our Malaysian team as the country dealt with a 3rd wave of COVID-19. Id like to take this opportunity to acknowledge our Lynas Malaysia team members who put in an extraordinary effort to ensure our operations could continue in very difficult conditions.
Following the end of the financial year, Lynas participated in the Malaysian Governments
Public/Private COVID-19 Immunisation program and 99.9% of our Malaysian employees are now vaccinated. Pleasingly, case numbers across the country have fallen as vaccination rates have increased.
Globally, the demand for electric vehicles and wind energy accelerated during the year and high demand for high performance magnets led to increased demand for Lynas NdPr product family and mixed Heavy Rare Earths. The Lynas 2025 growth vision represents Lynas plan to grow with the market and meet this accelerating market demand for Rare Earths. In September 2020, Lynas completed a $425 million equity raise to fund the Lynas 2025 foundation projects which are the Kalgoorlie Rare Earths Processing Facility and the associated upgrades at Lynas Malaysia. Work on the new Rare Earths Processing Facility in Kalgoorlie progressed well throughout the year and Amanda will provide an update on this in the CEO presentation.
In addition, in July 2021, Lynas was awarded a $14.8 million grant as part of the Australian governments Modern Manufacturing Initiative. This grant will be used to commercialise an industry- first Rare Earth carbonate refining process that was developed by Lynas own R&D team and will be installed during the construction of the Kalgoorlie Facility. Lynas Rare Earths Ltd Level 1, 45 Royal St., East Perth, WA 6004 Page 2 We continue to see heightened customer and government interest in securing reliable and
diversified Rare Earths supply for growing industries. As the only significant producer of separated Rare Earths outside of China, Lynas is ideally positioned to play a role in sustainably addressing
this supply chain challenge. Lynas always aims to have a positive impact on our people, our communities and the environment and we strive to improve our performance today, and set ourselves more challenging targets in the longer term. This is reflected in our commitment to providing our stakeholders including shareholders, customers and communities with the information they need to assess our Environmental, Social and Governance ESG performance. This year we reviewed our sustainability reporting and released an enhanced ESG Report that
focuses on the key performance metrics that matter most. We adopted the common metrics identified by the World Economic Forum to make it easier to compare our performance with that of industry leaders around the world.
Lynas recognises the challenges of climate change and the role we play in assisting the energy transition by supplying Rare Earth materials to manufacturers of green technologies like wind turbines and electric vehicles. In September this year, Lynas confirmed its commitment to the Science Based Targets initiative and
we look forward to sharing our Science Based Targets with you once they have been verified by the global body. In closing, on behalf of the Board I would like to thank our teams here in Australia and in Malaysia and thank you, our shareholders, for your continued support of Lynas. While the challenges of the pandemic are likely to remain in the short-term, we are focused on delivering on our Lynas 2025 growth vision to build value for shareholders and ensure that Lynas is well positioned to capitalise on the growing and strategic market in which we operate.
I would now like to invite Amanda to address the meeting.
Lynas Rare Earths Ltd Level 1, 45 Royal St., East Perth, WA 6004 Page 3 Authorized by: Sarah Leonard, Company Secretary Media Relations: Investor Relations: Jennifer Parker or Lauren Stutchbury E: media@Lynasre.com T: +61 8 6241 3800 Daniel Havas VP Strategy & Investor Relations E: investorrelations@Lynasre.com |