Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Plans to make the Middle Arm Precinct a clean's energy
harbor are progressing, with Taiwan and Larakia Energy striking up
an agreement to supply up to thirty megawatts of renewable
energy from twenty twenty six. Now, Taiwan I want to
establish a vanadium electrolyte facility. I could have pronounced that
(00:20):
wrong at the project or at the precinct, which is
said to be the largest of its kind in the country.
Now the company's executive chair Grant Wilson joins me on
the line to explain it all. Good morning to you, Grant.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hey, Katie, how are you mate, Nice to be back on.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, great to have you on the show. Now tell
me what exactly is this agreement going to mean?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, sure, it's worked on two levels, Katie. Firstly, there's
the commercial terms which you just ran through, which is
us buying a finite amount of solar energy from Larichia
Energy commencing out twenty twenty six, we hope. And that's
to build an electrolyte facility, which in terms build batteries,
big green batteries, which existing facilities that Middle Arm and
(01:04):
major proponents in the future will be able to source
their own solar power from thereby building a big renewable
value chain. So it's a bit complex that the aim
ultimately is to build a clean energy renewable value chain
of great scale at Middle Arm. So that's the commercial
side of the deal. The second side is effectively the signal.
You know, this is a major proponent in Taiwan tying
(01:25):
up proudly with Larikia Development Corporation Judicial owners of Darwin
and the water is surrounding. So in sometimes it's a
breakthrough for the precincts, and I think it's been seen
as that way by many people, including the sort of
effusive reaction for the tertra governments.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well you always need an anchor, don't you. You always
sort of need first that first group to sign on
and to actually get things moving.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, one hundred percent, And obviously in my view the
first group should be Larikia as traditional owners. And one
of the big transformations of Taieban over the past year
which I've led, is early and inclusive engagement which the
owners and that runs the gamut from Central Land Council
down Maallis, across the kimber Land Council in Broome and
Toos in the East Kimberley as well, and so one
(02:10):
of the first sets of priorities myself in Darwin they've
got to know people around town, was to get to
know Larakia, and we've been working on this field for
some time and we're really genuinely delighted that it's come
together and in time for the Middle Armed inquiry as well.
You may be aware, Katie that canber is called a
big inquiry into the Sustatable Development Precinct and their submissions
(02:31):
were actually required on Tuesday at the deadline. So we've
put our big submission in there. We expect it gets
called to Canberra and I think this will hopefully alter
the sort of polarization of the debate around Middle Arm
and certainly we plan to go to Canberra with good intentions,
transparent as always and bringing a message of purpose and
hope as well to Darwin and to Camberton, because you.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Spot on Grunt, it's been a real it has been
a really polarizing subject and for a lot of people
they do want to actually see Middle Arm that precinct developed,
But then you have got others that are saying that
it's not going to be what the Northern territory government claims,
and it's not going to be clean energy, but from
what you're telling me, that's certainly the path that you
(03:15):
guys are moving down.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, that's right. That's going to be interesting to see
how it all plays out now, because obviously there are
very strong views across different stakeholder cohorts and even on
the East Coast as well, and some very intellectual groups
making very strong statements in different directions. I think it's
fair to say that in the current conception there are
significant concerns across different parts of the community, particularly in
terms of the impact on harbor, and large parts of
(03:39):
the early planning, you know, for Middle Arm are very
much focused on the marine infrastructure, and that will necessarily
involve things like dredging and removing mangroves, and a lot
of that is to facilitate products and in turn to
facilitate hydraulic fracturing of the beetle, which is obviously very
very contentious. So in some ways what we're proposing with
(03:59):
Larikia not only will be a first moving initiative, it
should shift the development pathway for the precinct more in
terms of terrestrial infrastructure. So funding from the Commonwealth to
bring in the big transmission from Livingston to Middle Arm
that's required to facilitate initiatives such as ours and ultimately
to facilitate clean energy. So I think it's fair to
(04:20):
say you have competing visions of the precinct now and
much to play out over the months and quarters and
years they had.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
How significant though, is the agreement with Larochia Energy.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
As I said, I think it has the commercial aspect
and then the signal aspect in terms of the important
alliance between a major proponent and the traditional owners. So
we think it's a landmark agreement in many ways, and
we're seeing the reaction gradually sort of transfused across stakeholders
in the days since we announced it. Obviously we've got
(04:54):
to follow through and we've been working at rapid pace
all year with got more major announcements soon in terms
of the build out of Taiwan and our major project
over the East Kimberly, and so the owner is now
on both Larikiir Development Corporation and ourselves is to deliver
because as you know, Katie, there's always pies in the
sky when it's come to major projects, and what we're
(05:15):
looking to do here is start with actually be something
quite modest. We've got two initiatives for Darwin in the
next twelve months, which is the donating lex light facility
and the build out of our pilot plant, which we
expect to happen in Eastam. So we're very much in
favor of a crawl and walk then run approach things
that are shove already, things that can be funded, things
that are credible, and in my strong view, without the
(05:36):
backing of Larichia Development Corporation, I think it's really really
difficult to proceed. Whereas we have that now and the
deal we've got in that sense is extremely significant.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Grant spot on and you know, I guess for us
in the NT we've heard at different times about different
major projects potentially getting underway and we have been disappointed
over the years by some of those projects not getting
underway in their full form. Tell our listeners what exactly
is a vanadium electrolyte facility, because there'll be some people's
(06:06):
eyes glazing over going. I have no idea what that is.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, I understand. Let me break it down in really
simple terms and try to address the thrust of the
question as well. It is extremely difficult for major projects
to get up in the non territory and the remote
jurisdictions because of cost yep and because of scarcity of labor,
and oftentimes because of the infrastructure. So that cycle of
people promising giddy visions and not being out to follow
(06:31):
through and execute is largely driven by by those dynamics.
What we see for the territory is that you've got
to really play to your strength and the durable competitive
advantage of that non territory and north Western Australia has
is the propensity for large scale solar supported by tudicitional
owners and then ultimately our resource over its We we
(06:53):
have the largest vanadium resources in the world, extremely high grade,
and we can create a supply chain which can turn
build large scale grid storage batteries. And if you've got
the best solo in the world and the best long
duration batteries in the world, all pulling together at middle Arm,
along with huge industrial uses of electricity such as impacts
(07:14):
and Darwin Ellen g then you actually have the fundamentals
required to build the largest renewal ball precinct globally. But
it ultimately comes back Katie to walk, Crawl, Walk, Run
and playing to your strength, and I think in the
past that's been one of the main sadiens people have
got ahead of themselves and not necessarily play to the
strengths of the territory.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
So what's the next step from your perspective.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Well, we're going to be fascinated to see what happens
with the Middle Arm inquiry. We're expecting to get called
could be as early as late November early December, based
on parliamentary sitting times. We hope to see this polarization
start to abate and we hope as well that over
the next call it eight nine months obviously, bearing mind
as election Katie, you would know that on territory next year
that we can make meaningful progress in terms of maturing
(08:01):
this pathway for the terrestrial infrastructure for Middle Arm. If
we can get the key players around the table, and
that includes commercial players as well as LA Care as
well as anti government as well as camera and work
through the scopes that are required to bring in that transmission,
to bring in the green networking, switching and so on
and so forth, you'll have created a durable pathway to
(08:24):
start to build the precinct out. It will be very
obvious to stakeholders a duo community that there's been a shift,
there's real progress, and I think again we can turn
from hesitation and the sort of negativity that I see
in Darwin and more to this sense of hope and
a really directed purpose.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
So the next step, I guess is seeing what happens
in that Senate inquiry and Grant. I mean it sounds
like you are really going to be talking about the
benefits of the development of ARM, the Middle Arm precinct
and you know what you guys can do, what Tai
Vang can do?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, one hundred percent. And just to really reinforce that point, Katie,
we've obviously moved our headquarters to Darwin this year, so
we're very much embedded now in the local community. I
think I have figured outdo and to a large extent,
and people are very welcome as well to attend out
annual general meetings. It's very unusual, in fact, for an
ASTHEX listed company to be headquartered in Darwen, as we
(09:19):
are down on Bennett Street, and we're taking the additional
step of announcing that we're going to host our annual
general meeting, the first one really to tie in at
Charles Down University it's on the seventeenth November, a Friday,
and people are very much welcome to come along. We're
expecting more stakeholders than shareholders to be frank, and we
want it to be an open forum where we can
discuss these issues for a couple of hours, and so
(09:41):
anyone that's out there in the business community or has
a really strong interest in how Middle Arm is likely
to proceed from here, it's very much welcome to reach
out come along to that event, very much an open
community forum.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
It sounds like you guys not only want to be
part of the community, but you want people to understand
your project properly. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Following all this effort and sort of velocity that we've
created at the company, the momentum that we have a
clear principles, Katie. So in respect to traditional owners, we
don't talk about consent. We think that term is fundamentally broken.
We've evolved the concepts of inclusion and participation and agreement
with our care as an example of that, and there'll
be more. And in terms of governance and community relations,
(10:24):
you know, we're not just kicking boxes, we're really living it.
And a lot of that comes down to concepts of
transparency and in terms of the community, that's really i
think what's been missing and localizing within the community as well.
So we are very much a differentiated entity, i would
say within the resources community, and we're sort of shattering
(10:45):
some shibalus as we go and we're proud of that.
And we're absolutely open to community engagement. We're seeking it
and we're listening as well. I think that's one of
the other things that's really differentiates High End. The first
couple of months under new management was just an exercise
and listening and getting to know people. Now we're making decisions.
Now we're executing, but it's been based on what we
(11:06):
learned well.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Grant Wilson, Taiwan Executive Chair, we really appreciate your time
this morning. Thank you very much for having a chat
with us, and I'll be interested to try and catch
up with you as well after you guys speak if
you are called to that Senate hearing, and if so,
I'd be really keen to have a chat with you again.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Thanks again, Keatie, thank you
Plans to make the Middle Arm Precinct a clean's energy
harbor are progressing, with Taiwan and Larakia Energy striking up
an agreement to supply up to thirty megawatts of renewable
energy from twenty twenty six. Now, Taiwan I want to
establish a vanadium electrolyte facility. I could have pronounced that
(00:20):
wrong at the project or at the precinct, which is
said to be the largest of its kind in the country.
Now the company's executive chair Grant Wilson joins me on
the line to explain it all. Good morning to you, Grant.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Hey, Katie, how are you mate, Nice to be back on.
Speaker 1 (00:36):
Yeah, great to have you on the show. Now tell
me what exactly is this agreement going to mean?
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Yeah, sure, it's worked on two levels, Katie. Firstly, there's
the commercial terms which you just ran through, which is
us buying a finite amount of solar energy from Larichia
Energy commencing out twenty twenty six, we hope. And that's
to build an electrolyte facility, which in terms build batteries,
big green batteries, which existing facilities that Middle Arm and
(01:04):
major proponents in the future will be able to source
their own solar power from thereby building a big renewable
value chain. So it's a bit complex that the aim
ultimately is to build a clean energy renewable value chain
of great scale at Middle Arm. So that's the commercial
side of the deal. The second side is effectively the signal.
You know, this is a major proponent in Taiwan tying
(01:25):
up proudly with Larikia Development Corporation Judicial owners of Darwin
and the water is surrounding. So in sometimes it's a
breakthrough for the precincts, and I think it's been seen
as that way by many people, including the sort of
effusive reaction for the tertra governments.
Speaker 1 (01:40):
Well you always need an anchor, don't you. You always
sort of need first that first group to sign on
and to actually get things moving.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Yeah, one hundred percent, And obviously in my view the
first group should be Larikia as traditional owners. And one
of the big transformations of Taieban over the past year
which I've led, is early and inclusive engagement which the
owners and that runs the gamut from Central Land Council
down Maallis, across the kimber Land Council in Broome and
Toos in the East Kimberley as well, and so one
(02:10):
of the first sets of priorities myself in Darwin they've
got to know people around town, was to get to
know Larakia, and we've been working on this field for
some time and we're really genuinely delighted that it's come
together and in time for the Middle Armed inquiry as well.
You may be aware, Katie that canber is called a
big inquiry into the Sustatable Development Precinct and their submissions
(02:31):
were actually required on Tuesday at the deadline. So we've
put our big submission in there. We expect it gets
called to Canberra and I think this will hopefully alter
the sort of polarization of the debate around Middle Arm
and certainly we plan to go to Canberra with good intentions,
transparent as always and bringing a message of purpose and
hope as well to Darwin and to Camberton, because you.
Speaker 1 (02:53):
Spot on Grunt, it's been a real it has been
a really polarizing subject and for a lot of people
they do want to actually see Middle Arm that precinct developed,
But then you have got others that are saying that
it's not going to be what the Northern territory government claims,
and it's not going to be clean energy, but from
what you're telling me, that's certainly the path that you
(03:15):
guys are moving down.
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Yeah, that's right. That's going to be interesting to see
how it all plays out now, because obviously there are
very strong views across different stakeholder cohorts and even on
the East Coast as well, and some very intellectual groups
making very strong statements in different directions. I think it's
fair to say that in the current conception there are
significant concerns across different parts of the community, particularly in
terms of the impact on harbor, and large parts of
(03:39):
the early planning, you know, for Middle Arm are very
much focused on the marine infrastructure, and that will necessarily
involve things like dredging and removing mangroves, and a lot
of that is to facilitate products and in turn to
facilitate hydraulic fracturing of the beetle, which is obviously very
very contentious. So in some ways what we're proposing with
(03:59):
Larikia not only will be a first moving initiative, it
should shift the development pathway for the precinct more in
terms of terrestrial infrastructure. So funding from the Commonwealth to
bring in the big transmission from Livingston to Middle Arm
that's required to facilitate initiatives such as ours and ultimately
to facilitate clean energy. So I think it's fair to
(04:20):
say you have competing visions of the precinct now and
much to play out over the months and quarters and
years they had.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
How significant though, is the agreement with Larochia Energy.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
As I said, I think it has the commercial aspect
and then the signal aspect in terms of the important
alliance between a major proponent and the traditional owners. So
we think it's a landmark agreement in many ways, and
we're seeing the reaction gradually sort of transfused across stakeholders
in the days since we announced it. Obviously we've got
(04:54):
to follow through and we've been working at rapid pace
all year with got more major announcements soon in terms
of the build out of Taiwan and our major project
over the East Kimberly, and so the owner is now
on both Larikiir Development Corporation and ourselves is to deliver
because as you know, Katie, there's always pies in the
sky when it's come to major projects, and what we're
(05:15):
looking to do here is start with actually be something
quite modest. We've got two initiatives for Darwin in the
next twelve months, which is the donating lex light facility
and the build out of our pilot plant, which we
expect to happen in Eastam. So we're very much in
favor of a crawl and walk then run approach things
that are shove already, things that can be funded, things
that are credible, and in my strong view, without the
(05:36):
backing of Larichia Development Corporation, I think it's really really
difficult to proceed. Whereas we have that now and the
deal we've got in that sense is extremely significant.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Grant spot on and you know, I guess for us
in the NT we've heard at different times about different
major projects potentially getting underway and we have been disappointed
over the years by some of those projects not getting
underway in their full form. Tell our listeners what exactly
is a vanadium electrolyte facility, because there'll be some people's
(06:06):
eyes glazing over going. I have no idea what that is.
Speaker 2 (06:10):
Yeah, I understand. Let me break it down in really
simple terms and try to address the thrust of the
question as well. It is extremely difficult for major projects
to get up in the non territory and the remote
jurisdictions because of cost yep and because of scarcity of labor,
and oftentimes because of the infrastructure. So that cycle of
people promising giddy visions and not being out to follow
(06:31):
through and execute is largely driven by by those dynamics.
What we see for the territory is that you've got
to really play to your strength and the durable competitive
advantage of that non territory and north Western Australia has
is the propensity for large scale solar supported by tudicitional
owners and then ultimately our resource over its We we
(06:53):
have the largest vanadium resources in the world, extremely high grade,
and we can create a supply chain which can turn
build large scale grid storage batteries. And if you've got
the best solo in the world and the best long
duration batteries in the world, all pulling together at middle Arm,
along with huge industrial uses of electricity such as impacts
(07:14):
and Darwin Ellen g then you actually have the fundamentals
required to build the largest renewal ball precinct globally. But
it ultimately comes back Katie to walk, Crawl, Walk, Run
and playing to your strength, and I think in the
past that's been one of the main sadiens people have
got ahead of themselves and not necessarily play to the
strengths of the territory.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
So what's the next step from your perspective.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Well, we're going to be fascinated to see what happens
with the Middle Arm inquiry. We're expecting to get called
could be as early as late November early December, based
on parliamentary sitting times. We hope to see this polarization
start to abate and we hope as well that over
the next call it eight nine months obviously, bearing mind
as election Katie, you would know that on territory next year
that we can make meaningful progress in terms of maturing
(08:01):
this pathway for the terrestrial infrastructure for Middle Arm. If
we can get the key players around the table, and
that includes commercial players as well as LA Care as
well as anti government as well as camera and work
through the scopes that are required to bring in that transmission,
to bring in the green networking, switching and so on
and so forth, you'll have created a durable pathway to
(08:24):
start to build the precinct out. It will be very
obvious to stakeholders a duo community that there's been a shift,
there's real progress, and I think again we can turn
from hesitation and the sort of negativity that I see
in Darwin and more to this sense of hope and
a really directed purpose.
Speaker 1 (08:41):
So the next step, I guess is seeing what happens
in that Senate inquiry and Grant. I mean it sounds
like you are really going to be talking about the
benefits of the development of ARM, the Middle Arm precinct
and you know what you guys can do, what Tai
Vang can do?
Speaker 2 (08:59):
Yeah, one hundred percent. And just to really reinforce that point, Katie,
we've obviously moved our headquarters to Darwin this year, so
we're very much embedded now in the local community. I
think I have figured outdo and to a large extent,
and people are very welcome as well to attend out
annual general meetings. It's very unusual, in fact, for an
ASTHEX listed company to be headquartered in Darwen, as we
(09:19):
are down on Bennett Street, and we're taking the additional
step of announcing that we're going to host our annual
general meeting, the first one really to tie in at
Charles Down University it's on the seventeenth November, a Friday,
and people are very much welcome to come along. We're
expecting more stakeholders than shareholders to be frank, and we
want it to be an open forum where we can
discuss these issues for a couple of hours, and so
(09:41):
anyone that's out there in the business community or has
a really strong interest in how Middle Arm is likely
to proceed from here, it's very much welcome to reach
out come along to that event, very much an open
community forum.
Speaker 1 (09:51):
It sounds like you guys not only want to be
part of the community, but you want people to understand
your project properly. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Following all this effort and sort of velocity that we've
created at the company, the momentum that we have a
clear principles, Katie. So in respect to traditional owners, we
don't talk about consent. We think that term is fundamentally broken.
We've evolved the concepts of inclusion and participation and agreement
with our care as an example of that, and there'll
be more. And in terms of governance and community relations,
(10:24):
you know, we're not just kicking boxes, we're really living it.
And a lot of that comes down to concepts of
transparency and in terms of the community, that's really i
think what's been missing and localizing within the community as well.
So we are very much a differentiated entity, i would
say within the resources community, and we're sort of shattering
(10:45):
some shibalus as we go and we're proud of that.
And we're absolutely open to community engagement. We're seeking it
and we're listening as well. I think that's one of
the other things that's really differentiates High End. The first
couple of months under new management was just an exercise
and listening and getting to know people. Now we're making decisions.
Now we're executing, but it's been based on what we
(11:06):
learned well.
Speaker 1 (11:07):
Grant Wilson, Taiwan Executive Chair, we really appreciate your time
this morning. Thank you very much for having a chat
with us, and I'll be interested to try and catch
up with you as well after you guys speak if
you are called to that Senate hearing, and if so,
I'd be really keen to have a chat with you again.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Thanks again, Keatie, thank you
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