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CHRYSOS CORPORATION LTD (C79) - Revolutionizing Gold Mining: CEO Dirk Treasure on PhotonAssay™ Technology, Strategic Partnerships, and Global Expansion

September 04, 2024 • Andrew Musgrave

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What if you could revolutionize the mining industry with a single technology? Join us as we sit down with Dirk Treasure, the Managing Director and CEO of Chrysos Corporation, to uncover the game-changing impact of PhotonAssay™ technology. Developed by CSIRO and commercialized by Chrysos since 2017, this innovative method offers faster, more accurate, and eco-friendly gold analysis, setting a new standard in an industry that hasn't seen such a shift in millennia. Dirk sheds light on how PhotonAssay™ simplifies sample preparation, reduces labor, and enhances ESG metrics, making it a must-have for modern mining operations.

In this episode, Dirk also shares the strategic partnerships and global expansion strategies that have fueled Chrysos Corporation's impressive growth. Discover how collaborations with major gold miners like Barrick, Goldfields, and Agnico Eagle, along with alliances with leading laboratories such as ALS, Intertek, and SGS, have driven rapid adoption of PhotonAssay™ technology. Hear firsthand how Chrysos has built strong relationships with clients and received glowing feedback on the transformative impact of their technology. Don't miss this insightful conversation that promises to redefine the future of mining.

Andrew Musgrave:

Welcome to another episode of ASX Briefs, and joining me today is Dirk Treasure, the Managing Director and CEO of Chrysos Corporation, a company that combines science and software to create technology solutions for the global mining industry. Dirk, thanks for joining me today and welcome to the ASX Briefs podcast.

Dirk Treasure:

Thank you very much for having me,excited to be here.

Andrew Musgrave:

Excellent, so we can start by giving us an overview of the history of Chrysos Corp.

Dirk Treasure:

Yeah, absolutely. So. We really formed the company around the PhotonAssay technology. So PhotonAssay was developed by CSIRO for about 10 years before we got involved and in early 2017, we kicked off with CSIRO then as a big shareholder, and it's then been a story of commercialising this technology and taking it to market.

Andrew Musgrave:

Okay, and this technology, the PhotonAssay technology, is clearly at the heart of your business. So what key advantages does it offer over traditional gold analysis methods, and how do you see its role evolving as you expand into new markets and potentially, new minerals?

Dirk Treasure:

Yeah, look, great question. And PhotonAssay, I say absolutely, is the heart of our business and it's probably important just to touch on how analysis is used in the mining industry. So really, no mine can operate without knowing how much of their target element they have. Quite simply, so, from an explorer through to an actual miner, through into production in a plant, you need analysis, non-discretionary. We're basically replacing what companies are already doing, but with a much, much, much better technique. So PhotonAssay is significantly faster. You're talking kind of minutes compared to hours.

Dirk Treasure:

That's got a whole lot of flow on effects when it comes to optimally running your process, you know, can you improve recovery, can you optimize reagent consumption. We've got more accurate results. So, across pretty much the entire useful grade range for a miner, for an explorer, we're gonna deliver better results than the sort of the current incumbent technology that we're replacing, mindful that the incumbent technology is about two and a half thousand years old, so there's a bit of low-hanging fruit there. We've got reduced sample preparation so we can run crushed material, we can run solutions, we can run slurries. At the moment there's a lot of complex sample preparation that goes into analysis, sort of predating PhotonAssay we can completely automate. We've got lower labor requirements, improved ESG, so we basically produce about half the amount of CO2 to that incumbent technique and it's also much, much safer to operate. So from a technology perspective, we tick every single box that you would want as a disruptive technology really replacing an incumbent technique, so not creating a new market on the way through.

Andrew Musgrave:

And the company has achieved remarkable growth in international markets, with over 50% of your revenue now coming from outside the APAC region. So can you share the strategies that have driven this global expansion and how do you plan to maintain this momentum?

Dirk Treasure:

Yeah, so really for us it's about working directly with some of the world's biggest gold miners and some of the world's biggest laboratories to drive our technology adoption around the world.

Dirk Treasure:

So just in this last year having now just released our FY24 results in October last year we had Barrick, the second biggest gold miner in the world, announce a global adoption of our technology. We've had Goldfields I think they're the fifth or sixth largest gold miner in the world talking at our site visit earlier in April talking about their exclusive use of photon assay within their Australian operations. We've had Agnico Eagle, the third biggest gold miner in the world, stepping through their adoption journey for their Fosterville gold mine during a recent Oz IMM conference. And really for us that's the goal here is working with these big miners, demonstrating the value of the technology to the miners, getting that endorsement of the major laboratories. So our laboratory partners are ALS, Intertek, SGS. We've also got MSA in there, which I believe are the fastest growing geochem lab in the world.

Dirk Treasure:

And really yeah, getting that endorsement, pushing out the technology and growing into the industry. We've had a fairly rapid adoption curve in what is a fairly conservative industry when it comes to new technology.

Andrew Musgrave:

And you've recently secured new contracts and expanded your customer base. So how do you approach the building and maintaining of these relationships, and what has the feedback been from clients with regards to the impact of PhotonA ssay?

Dirk Treasure:

Look, our relationships with our customers are incredibly important.

Dirk Treasure:

We see the true benefits of the technology really coming through to the miners. So all of those pieces that I rattled off before about just the improvements of PhotonA ssay compared to that incumbent technique so as we roll out our technology onto mine sites, we're considering that we're partnering with these miners because it's not just a like for like replacement of what they currently do. There's a whole bunch of enabling aspects of the technology. So when I talk about something like faster turnaround time, at the moment for process control, typically a miner will take a shift, composite sample over a 12 hour shift, send that to the laboratory. Laboratory then takes 12 hours to analyze, sends the data back to the miner. So what you've then got is a miner trying to run their process plant on data that is 24 hours old. So you're running everything retrospectively. By being able to take faster sample or more frequent samples, get faster analysis, helping a miner make better decisions on their actual operations. This is the kind of thing that really excites us. How do you use those benefits of the technology to really add value from the miner's perspective?

Andrew Musgrave:

And are there any new markets or industries you're particularly excited about exploring with PhotonAssay?

Dirk Treasure:

Yeah, look, we're about 5% into our existing target market. So I think we've got a very long way to go there in becoming the ubiquitous gold analysis technique around the world. But there's certainly scope beyond just gold for us. So we're currently running photonA hotonA ssay for copper, for silver we can now run solution analyses. As of just recently we can also run moisture analysis, which enables us to run those very quick processed samples. So there's expansion opportunities within the PhotonA ssay technology into these other elements and applications. And then we keep an eye out around the world. For what else does a miner need to really run their processes? So what are co-presenting elements geologically, what are elements of interest from a process perspective, and would we bolt things together to deliver a better service to the miners?

Andrew Musgrave:

And now, just to wrap things up, what are some of the key milestones you're looking to achieve in the next 12 to 18 months?

Dirk Treasure:

Oh, great question. So we're currently installing into Nevada Gold Mines, which we're pretty excited about. So Nevada Gold Mines is the biggest mining complex in the world, so that's certainly a milestone from our perspective. During our recent release you referenced this before we announced a growing relationship with SGS, so very keen to see where that goes, given that they're the biggest laboratory company in the world and really just seeing that ongoing broad adoption of our technology. My goal here at the moment is to really have the top 10 gold miners in the world actively using PhotonA ssay and deciding that that is the best path forward for how they operate their mines and process plants.

Andrew Musgrave:

Excellent. Well, Dirk, thanks for your time today. It's been great to get an update on the company and we look forward to further updates in the upcoming months.

Dirk Treasure:

No worries at all. Thank you very much for having me.

Andrew Musgrave:

That concludes this episode of ASX Briefs. Don't forget to subscribe and we look forward to catching you on our next episode.