Hello sir, thank you so much for the opportunity. Just a couple of questions. So, can you update us all on the quota system, when can it be implemented by which month of this year and how do we see the realizations in coming quarters?

So, as mentioned on the call, we are awaiting further information on the government but we most certainly expect it to come in before the end of this year. I think that the realizations may remain close to similar levels for time being until we have -- I think any kind of directional tailwind would probably come in from the quota system. Till then we expect margins to remain closer to similar levels and I guess that's pretty much the clarity what we have until the quota system. Freight remains elevated, so that remains an overhang on margins in the short-term.

And one more question sir, the 15 million ton target that we had for FY28, are we on track to achieve that?

Yes, absolutely.

Okay sir. I'll get back in the queue. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Mayuresh Rawat with Invest4Edu. Please go ahead.

Yes, thanks for the opportunity sir. Am I audible sir?

Yes.

Yes, thank you for the opportunity. So sir, my first question is regarding on this quota system. So during the last couple of quarters sir, we have seen some player re-entering the market and now the public company Nimba also talking about the selling a bauxite through the monthly tender as was in the news recently. So how do you see the Ashapura plays amid this new development sir?

So essentially, we believe that it's a new development but it will take some time to materialize and should not have a significant impact on the overall market. I mean Guinea exports close to 200 million ton and they are talking about achieving 14 million tons after some period of time, which may take like, we believe it even that kind of a target may take a little bit of time to achieve. So they are not going to significantly disrupt the market and maybe most likely those quantities would be available to other traders or suppliers of bauxite to further export to China. So while that news is relevant, but we think it will not really change the overall demand supply scenario.

Okay. And sir, my second -- yes sir.

Just for clarity, we can also participate in those tenders if we have the subsequent opportunity like in terms of the customers and the viability. So it's a -- we don't expect it to adversely affect the overall market.

Understood sir. And second question is sir, on our past con-call you have mentioned that you are also exploring opportunities in nearby countries, including there was a possibility toward the rare earth mineral sir. So you have -- so any update on that sir? Like in coming quarter, we can see any update on this new entry?

Ashapura continues to explore opportunities with neighboring countries in Africa but that list is not included to rare earth minerals as such and we are still exploring. So, while we are in communication but we don't expect any material announcement in the short-term.

Understood sir. And sir one more clarification I want. In your press release you have mentioned about the bauxite washing plant. So you have come up with the 20,000 ton per day capacity, so I have a two clarification on this one sir. So how much it will impact on our EBITDA sir, like how much our EBITDA will increase in terms of the number like? And the second one sir, if you wanted to scale this 20,000 to for example 40,000 or 60,000, so how much time it will take and what will be our cost to expand this thing sir?

I think the fundamental purpose of bauxite washing plant might be EBITDA neutral but it definitely helps us to increase our total volume and throughput which we can do from a particular location because it makes the more low grade resources into high grade and exportable resources. So it would help us with our throughput and in case of a situation like currently as we see that the bauxite prices are subdued, it helps us to enhance our quality and get a premium in tougher markets. So the objective of this plant is more on a sustainability perspective as we have put up the 20,000 tons kind of capacity in a short period of time. If there is an adequate demand and viability of this project, it would not be very difficult for us to expand it. In a similar model maybe if we have decided to get on this project, it may take us a period of approximately one year, if we decide to expand it further. The time period to implement this kind of a plant would be one year. But the purpose of this plant is more on a sustainability and cost mitigation side.

So, like I mentioned that yes, you are right that the quality will improve and the premium will increase but typically what happens is that then more resource also gets depleted in increasing the quality. There would be more rejection, etcetera. So I mean, I would not comment on a specific EBITDA increase and in any case it is a smaller part of our total export volume currently. As of now I would still encourage to think of this more on a sustainability side than on an EBITDA side. So no comment on EBITDA margin, but it would definitely help us to sustain the current EBITDA in this kind of a difficult situation. This kind of a role is how we see this beneficiation plant.

Got it sir. Thank you sir, thanks for the opportunity and all the best for the future sir.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Milan Deep Jain with Green Portfolio. Please go ahead.

Thank you so much for the opportunity, sir. My first question is around the Boffa port capacity expansion...

Milan Deep, I'm really sorry but your voice is muffling. Can you check please?

Am I audible now?

Yes.

Yes, so my first question is around the Boffa port capacity. I want to understand that in Q4 FY26, the plan for expansion was from 5 MT to 10 MT by Q2 FY27. So, as per latest disclosure we achieved 8 MT, so is there any forward plan of adding additional capacity to make it till 10 in Q2 or later?

No, so currently we have commissioned up to 8 million tons which we think is a reasonable capacity for the short term. Now window is to expand the capacity further let's say to 10 or 12 million tons may not have a significant timeline, but we may do that as the volumes ramp up. Currently our total exporting capacity of bauxite stands at 18 million tons. So we are comfortable with the current capacity, but we do have the ability to expand this capacity further and we will take a call on it subsequently.

Okay sir. My second question was about what kind of terms or agreement do we have with the China Railway as it is helping us with the development of the Fako bauxite deposit of around 230 million tons in Guinea, which is basically also connected through the third port of Konta with 5 MT capacity. Can you share some colour on it?

So that was a kind of a more like an MOU, we are still studying the details and how to make it operational. But currently there is not much progress to report on Fako mines. Maybe around next year we may have something to report on that, but currently it is still in a development phase.

Okay sir. Sir my last question was around can you like share any update on the development of value- added grades of bentonite for oil and gas in foundry application basically, which was updated, like updates were shared in the last quarter?

Sure. So, within the bentonite and allied minerals division I highlighted in my speech also that our core focus really remains on growing by value addition. We have very much selected products which are difficult to manufacture in India or imported. So we have that kind of basis. This includes specifically a lot of grades for foundry including kind of what we call as a heat resistant grades also. Its ability, like there are several projects in bentonite not just spanning to foundry but related to oil and gas as you mentioned. And then also there are other divisions also like iron ore pelletizing where there are several interesting innovations coming by Ashapura which are all kind of in a piloting to commercialization stage. I would like to say that over a medium term if we consider three years, we expect that, you know, most or more than half of our current EBITDA or most of our EBITDA would be coming from the value- added products and that's the kind of vision what we have set out. But individually to explain each of the products might be difficult. But we are very focused on the value added products and we are on quite advanced stages with most of them as far as customer trials or modifications etc. are concerned.

Right. Thank you so much, that's all from my side. All the very best.

Yes. I just also want to reiterate that we have the world's largest bentonite grinding capacity within our group, we are over having over 1 million tons of grinding capacity. So now it is really a question of value addition and technology, how we can leverage our existing infrastructure for more and more premium products, solutioning and, you know, kind of a win-win partnerships with the customers. So that's really what our focus is. But having this infrastructure means that that it will not take us a long time to commercialize.

Okay sir. Thank you so much.

Yes. Hello sir. Thank you for the opportunity. So my question was that regarding, in this quarter we did a volume of around 2.3 million ton, which is sequentially down 26% and if I recall correctly then we were expecting a higher number considering our guidance for the year of around 10 to 12 million tons and a revenue of at least USD700 million. So, do you think that we are going to miss that target now or you see any possibility that we will be getting better sequentially in coming quarters? Considering that in Q1, it must, we must have been having an impact regarding our shift availability and higher ocean freight along with lower bauxite prices.

So, as you are aware that typically quarter two is a weak quarter and it picks up from quarter three and then improves towards quarter four and one. As already has been mentioned on this call that and quarter one was lower than the previous quarter because of particularly challenges regarding to ocean freight and, you know, being competitive with very high elevated freights and limited availability of vessels. And basically regarding to our target of 10 million tons, we have added that, okay, maybe there may be a 10% variance into this target. So, as mentioned on the call, so there may be a 10% variance. Broadly we are headed in the direction which we have planned for this year and the coming year.

Okay sir. So also, if you can quantify the revenue from iron during the quarter, because it would be easier for us to analyse the results.

Actually, the reason why we are not doing that is it is in a trial production stage and so the revenues are fairly low. But what our intention is that once we build a long term road map, we would be able to comment more accurately on the revenue as well as a long term guidance on iron ore. And companies working towards achieving the same. The EBITDA which has been shared in by the management is totally based on the bauxite business. So the iron ore earnings are separate from that. So the EBITDA is not sort of mashed in with both. The EBITDA which we have shared in our releases is strictly belonging to the bauxite business.

Okay sir. And since the bauxite prices have stabilized above USD70, so, so you think we can improve our EBITDA per ton substantially from USD6 in the recent quarters to back to the original numbers in the subsequent quarters?

So currently the prices have increased on the back of elevated freight. The Chinese index prices are, they are around USD72. But they are kind of a combination of the FOB Guinea price as well as the freight from Guinea to China. So, the increase what we have seen from around USD61 or so to

USD72 is predominantly on the back of ocean freight. So we expect that EBITDA will remain in similar levels until the freight situation improves. So in the very short term we would think that EBITDA levels would remain here. We have to watch for either a more stable geopolitical situation which can help to reduce the freight rates, or we have to wait for the quota system or some other developments. But as of now, the visibility what we have is that maintaining this EBITDA would be a pretty good performance.

Okay, okay sir. So can you give us some color for the scope of growth and profitability over the next couple of years like, some visibility?

So, I think the basic point which we have highlighted before is that 15 million tons is what we aim to achieve or exceed. So even picking that as a baseline kind of number for the next financial year, we can think that around you know, almost about billion dollars of sales we are expecting from bauxite as per the company's plan. And our infrastructure, partnerships, and even customers are lined up. Once we have, you know, and even the port expansions are mostly done. So, once we, you know, once we see that the situation to become a little more benign currently, the global situation is quite hostile for this commodity trade. It becomes a little benign so we should be able to achieve that, which means that almost close to INR10,000 crores may come from bauxite alone. Which is a, which would be a phenomenal growth even from our current revenue perspective. The India businesses are like obviously, you know, quite small compared to the total business of Ashapura group. But we expect on the back of the value added business over couple of years, EBITDA to, you know, in terms of the total value of EBITDA to improve gradually but sustainably over the next couple of years. You know, even the Indian EBITDA have been obviously hit seriously by higher freight, higher input costs and totally disrupted logistics. As we are in the field of materials, logistics is a huge part of our total cost and revenues. So, but despite that we are able to maintain our revenues and in a little benign situation and with the coming up of our new products. We are very optimistic about the value addition our Indian products would bring and we expect that to reflect materially in the EBITDA’s in the medium term. So all in all, are quite optimistic over a medium term for both our major business verticals on mineral and on value at this site. But currently there are obviously lot of disruptions and they have impacted the industry, and us also. and in a little benign situation

Okay sir. Yes completely understand, that was quite helpful. Thank you for answering all my questions.

Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Nalin Shah with NVS Brokerage. Please go ahead. Nalin, you may please proceed ahead with your question.

Yes, good afternoon, and I would like to congratulate the Ashapura team that in spite of the West Asia crisis, there has been a wonderful performance for the Q1, barring some slight margin issue. So sir, that gives us a good perspective. And currently here, I think our target is about 12 million tons, that's what we had in the beginning you had fixed the target. Assuming that this is to be achieved, and it will be achieved, so around 9.5 million tons of each of the remaining quarters, do you feel first is that whether we can do 3 million tons on an average about 3, 3.1 million tons exports? That was my first question. Second my question is that how do you see now post June, that is July, August, how do you see the situation on the freight cost and whether you know, I mean things are started little you know, I mean settling down in a positive manner for us to handle this situation. And thirdly, what is the difference it has made, what is the kind of investment we have made, and the difference it will make that washery which we have set up. So if you can give us some idea on that?

Thank you Nalin bhai. So first to answer the question on the freight in quarter two, freight still remain very, very elevated compared to the normal what we consider the normal levels, and as a percentage of the CIF cost, freight remains elevated and this remains a challenge for us. And as I mentioned earlier on the call, it is in these situations that washing plants can help us to pull out a more premium grade, etcetera, which can help us to maintain EBITDA in these kinds of a tough challenges. But like the washing plant remains more on the sustainability side as far as the volumes and the quality is concerned. Regarding to what we expect for this financial year, as you are aware that Q2 is typically the weakest quarter for us and most of our growth will come in or most of our sales will come in towards the end of Q3 and in Q4. So with respect to that, you will see a similar kind of trend what we have seen last year in terms of how the numbers vary.

As mentioned, we have given a target of 10 to 12 and we expect maybe there may be a 10% variance into this target. So we can consider like a 9 to 11 kind of a range. But we are still very optimistic that if things is to improve even a little bit then we can achieve our original targets or even do better. It's now, we are kind of operating with the focus on profitability until the times are improved, then we can really focus on pushing the volumes. So we are consciously taking a call to focus on profitability while this disrupted situation remains. And we have the all infrastructure and customers and everything in place. Once the things improves, and if they improve then we have the ability to really do well in the quarter three and four. So we have our capability with us, we are waiting for the some external situations to improve. So we are still optimistic and positive about achieving our targets. But just need a little bit tailwind, you know, as far as the macro situation is concerned.

Okay, okay. So what is the investment on the washery?

Yes, hello.

Yes.

So washery investment will not be reflecting on our balance sheet as it's on a kind of operate and transfer kind of model. So, but if you were to install this kind of a washery, it would be in the tune of USD15 million.

I see. Okay, okay. Thank you very much. Thank you very much and all the best for the remaining part of this year and the future years. Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Prakhar with Anand Rathi Institutional Securities. Please go ahead.

Hello.

Yes. Hi.

I would estimate, like I mentioned, similar to what we have achieved for the time being. And coming in the future, as we said we expect that two things should improve. One is the macro situation with the elevated freights and the unavailability of vessels, we expect these to improve. And we expect a quota system to come in Guinea by end of the year or so, which can help us to, you know, there will be a limited supply of bauxite, which will reduce the freight as well as improve the ex-works realization. So, we expect EBITDA to improve significantly from now, maybe in the sort of next calendar year, at least this is our expectation. So today's EBITDAs are currently in very short term would be a good benchmark in the near term. Whatever we have achieved in quarter one, probably by the end of the year or into the next year we expect things to improve, that freights will normalize and the curtailed supply situation should help the miners like Ashapura.

Alright. Assuming the situation is improving, so will it be possible for you to quantify some number, as in Q1 you have maintained somewhat USD6.3 per ton we made in Q1 and in Q4 as there was a USD5.9 per ton, after this freight charges and West Asia crisis, you still able to improve your EBITDA in Q1. So do we see, do you like any, would you able to quantify something for FY27 or '28?

So, I mean, I would ideally not like to speculate too much on that, but like I feel that in the next one or two quarters it should remain closer to what we have achieved. So around USD6 or USD5.5 to USD6 would be a reasonable, expectation. But again, you know, the situation is very volatile. So, I would take that also with a little bit pinch of salt. But we do expect that the, you know, going forward you know Q3 towards the end and then Q4 maybe I mean we are optimistic, you know earlier we used to operate at around closer to USD10. So we are optimistic that maybe I cannot predict the timeline, but we do think that at least closer to that is what we see the normal run rate for this, if you think next couple of years or a little more than that. Right now, I think that a good sign for us is that this is in our opinion a very extreme situation, still we are positive EBITDA and we are able to maintain few dollars. So we expect the cycle to turn. So at least we should able to achieve over a medium to longer term closer to the EBITDAs we were achieving earlier which was near USD10. Now whether that pick up happens in a one quarter or over three quarters is anyone's guess. But I mean we are optimistic that this will not be the long term realization for the for the for the business.

Now we then we have to see that how the situations turn out, but we are optimistic that it should pick up closer to original levels once couple of challenges are sorted out.

Okay, got that. Thank you. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Our next question comes from the line of Krina Shah with KSA Shares and Securities Private Limited. Please go ahead.

Thank you for the opportunity, sir. Sir I just had a couple of questions regarding the India bentonite and white performance materials. Sir that franchise has been a consistent contributor to the group, and we just like to understand where the next leg of growth comes from and which value-added product categories versus the commodity grade bentonite, do you see as the biggest growth driver over the next few years?

Okay. So there is a whole host of value added initiatives which we are engaging in. I mean, I can share the industries and all of these are going to be significant for us. Today our bentonite business has a large scope to grow as we are majorly in lower value segments and getting into higher value segments. So for example, we have a good plans for the cat litter, we have a good plans for foundry. We have a, in oil and gas we are doing quite well. And in all of these, our company is blessed that the mines, the port, the plant, is so strategically located. For this premium products we can unlock a good part of the world and not just domestic sales, which is also contributing. So these are just some of the segments. With our kaolin business, we are increasing our focus significantly for the paper industries which is currently consuming imported products. We are improving our focus on the premium products in paint industry. I don't know how many of you are aware but kaolin is used traditionally in the industry to replace titanium dioxide which is much more costly. As we improve the grades of kaolin further, the usage of titanium dioxide drops and so does the cost of paint, because titanium dioxide is significantly three to four times more expensive. So, this premium segment what we are trying to develop for the company, these are all very exciting initiatives, but you know, they have serious and genuine value additions which take you know, a few quarters or couple of financial years to play out. But we are very excited over a couple of years that a lot of these products will contribute meaningfully to, to company and also reduce some of the imports or dependency for our customers. It's quite exciting and it is across the across the range of industries, not just on one industry, we are banking on.

Right. Thank you so much sir for the detailed explanation. Sir I have one more question on the Orient Ceratech's contribution to our segment EBITDA. Sir that has more than doubled. Sir what specifically is driving that, any new product categories or customer wins in the Orient Ceratech that we see?

Great. So basically there are two things. One of Orient's main products goes into oil and gas industry, which is well, in some ways they are doing quite well because of the elevated prices and there is a focus to increase the production. So, we have some improvement in demand there and we have also done a little bit of debottlenecking so we can make that additional supplies, so and that's a reasonably decent product for us. Another area is that we are making some of the materials for the steel industry, and that products are also doing very well where we are replacing international companies with our product and that that is also a premium product for us. So a couple of segments are really picking up for Orient and also the core business which is of making ceramic raw materials for the industry, this business is also doing a little bit better than what it was doing before. So it's a mix of things but it is involving our new products and also some improvement in demand of our traditional products, I would say. It's going through a good patch and good developments, as well as better than previous market conditions.

Right. Okay. Thank you so much sir. Thank you for the detailed explanation and all the best for future quarters. Thank you so much.

Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you so much. Ladies and gentlemen, due to the time constraint, we shall close the call. For further questions, please get in touch with the company's Investor Relations team. For the closing remarks, I now hand the conference over to Mr. Manan Shah. Thank you and over to you, sir.

First of all, would like to thank all of you for being with us. We have seen some challenges in the past couple of quarters, but the important thing from our point of view is, we are convinced about the long-term prospects of both our Guinea and our India business. We remain firmly in place as far as Guinea is concerned with our operational and execution capabilities and in India over medium term our ability to add significant and serious value to our current product portfolio. And we are confident that these things will eventually translate to a stronger and bigger company in medium future. And we appreciate your patience and your interest. Thank you so much and looking forward to meeting you all again on the next call or on the AGM. So thank you.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of Ashapura Minechem Limited, that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us and you may now disconnect your lines.