Tribe Tech cashed up and on the path to positive returns

(Partial Video Transcript)

Tribe Tech taking AIM at success

The increasing use of technology in the mining sector is critical, as we have to go further and dig deeper than ever before to produce the minerals to power our lives, into transition between using old fuels and, of course, the battery technologist we've been talking about.

Here's a company that came to London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in September, and it's using new technology to assist extraction for businesses. Charlie King is chief executive of Tribe Technology.

AO: Charlie, welcome.

CK: Hi.

AO: This is a pretty new company to me. I've been reporting in the mining space now for the best part of 30 years, but using new technology is something that along that way we've seen more and more of, and of course you are now contributing to this. Explain more about what it is you're trying to do at Tribe.

Tech, automation aim to cut cost-per-tonne

CK: Sure. As you'll know, in the mining value chain, in the last mining downturn, the major iron ore miners in Australia used a lot of automation and technology to reduce cost-per-tonne, to get their cost per tonne down to a point where they're now profitable even in a down market.

And that's been a huge drive in the kind of industrialisation of mining and reducing costs, increasing safety and all of that good stuff. But a lot of that work's been done at the processing, production, mining operations, shipping, trains, et cetera.

Here, in the value proposition from expiration through the resource definition, there's been very little change within over 30 years. And it's still a very manual, very dangerous operation, and an industry I know very well.

And there's been big pent-up demand from the major miners for change within that sector. What our technology does is not only increases productivity and safety, but it helps shorten that value chain for them, of getting a new resource into production faster.

Green revolution spurs mineral drive

And with the race to get enough critical minerals in for the green revolution, it's becoming increasingly important to shrink that value chain and, of course, reducing costs overhead, removing people from the line of fire, etcetera, are all really nice benefits as well.

AO: And you're a 34, 38% interested shareholder, aren't you, in this, because you were the founder of the business. Coming to the market last September, explain more about what we've got in terms of the cash and the balance sheet and what you raised. And, of course, I think you subsequently had another raise as well, haven't you?

CK: Yeah. I mean, it was a get piece that we had on top of the IPO amount. We had been negotiating it earlier, but we were able to secure more favorable terms post-IPO than we were pre-IPO. So, we held off strategically and managed to get a better deal, which we and the partners are both happy with.

So it's a good outcome and adds a bit more working capital into the business and gives us a really good cash balance sheet going forward.

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