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Speaker 1: Plans to make the Middle Arm Precinct a clean's energy

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Speaker 1: harbor are progressing, with Taiwan and Larakia Energy striking up

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Speaker 1: an agreement to supply up to thirty megawatts of renewable

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Speaker 1: energy from twenty twenty six. Now, Taiwan I want to

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Speaker 1: establish a vanadium electrolyte facility. I could have pronounced that

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Speaker 1: wrong at the project or at the precinct, which is

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Speaker 1: said to be the largest of its kind in the country.

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Speaker 1: Now the company's executive chair Grant Wilson joins me on

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Speaker 1: the line to explain it all. Good morning to you, Grant.

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Speaker 2: Hey, Katie, how are you mate, Nice to be back on.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, great to have you on the show. Now tell

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Speaker 1: me what exactly is this agreement going to mean?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, it's worked on two levels, Katie. Firstly, there's

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Speaker 2: the commercial terms which you just ran through, which is

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Speaker 2: us buying a finite amount of solar energy from Larichia

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Speaker 2: Energy commencing out twenty twenty six, we hope. And that's

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Speaker 2: to build an electrolyte facility, which in terms build batteries,

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Speaker 2: big green batteries, which existing facilities that Middle Arm and

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Speaker 2: major proponents in the future will be able to source

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Speaker 2: their own solar power from thereby building a big renewable

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Speaker 2: value chain. So it's a bit complex that the aim

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Speaker 2: ultimately is to build a clean energy renewable value chain

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Speaker 2: of great scale at Middle Arm. So that's the commercial

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Speaker 2: side of the deal. The second side is effectively the signal.

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Speaker 2: You know, this is a major proponent in Taiwan tying

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Speaker 2: up proudly with Larikia Development Corporation Judicial owners of Darwin

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Speaker 2: and the water is surrounding. So in sometimes it's a

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Speaker 2: breakthrough for the precincts, and I think it's been seen

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Speaker 2: as that way by many people, including the sort of

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Speaker 2: effusive reaction for the tertra governments.

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Speaker 1: Well you always need an anchor, don't you. You always

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Speaker 1: sort of need first that first group to sign on

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Speaker 1: and to actually get things moving.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent, And obviously in my view the

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Speaker 2: first group should be Larikia as traditional owners. And one

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Speaker 2: of the big transformations of Taieban over the past year

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Speaker 2: which I've led, is early and inclusive engagement which the

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Speaker 2: owners and that runs the gamut from Central Land Council

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Speaker 2: down Maallis, across the kimber Land Council in Broome and

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Speaker 2: Toos in the East Kimberley as well, and so one

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Speaker 2: of the first sets of priorities myself in Darwin they've

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Speaker 2: got to know people around town, was to get to

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Speaker 2: know Larakia, and we've been working on this field for

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Speaker 2: some time and we're really genuinely delighted that it's come

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Speaker 2: together and in time for the Middle Armed inquiry as well.

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Speaker 2: You may be aware, Katie that canber is called a

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Speaker 2: big inquiry into the Sustatable Development Precinct and their submissions

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Speaker 2: were actually required on Tuesday at the deadline. So we've

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Speaker 2: put our big submission in there. We expect it gets

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Speaker 2: called to Canberra and I think this will hopefully alter

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Speaker 2: the sort of polarization of the debate around Middle Arm

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Speaker 2: and certainly we plan to go to Canberra with good intentions,

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Speaker 2: transparent as always and bringing a message of purpose and

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Speaker 2: hope as well to Darwin and to Camberton, because you.

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Speaker 1: Spot on Grunt, it's been a real it has been

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Speaker 1: a really polarizing subject and for a lot of people

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Speaker 1: they do want to actually see Middle Arm that precinct developed,

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Speaker 1: But then you have got others that are saying that

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Speaker 1: it's not going to be what the Northern territory government claims,

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Speaker 1: and it's not going to be clean energy, but from

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Speaker 1: what you're telling me, that's certainly the path that you

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Speaker 1: guys are moving down.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. That's going to be interesting to see

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Speaker 2: how it all plays out now, because obviously there are

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Speaker 2: very strong views across different stakeholder cohorts and even on

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Speaker 2: the East Coast as well, and some very intellectual groups

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Speaker 2: making very strong statements in different directions. I think it's

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Speaker 2: fair to say that in the current conception there are

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Speaker 2: significant concerns across different parts of the community, particularly in

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Speaker 2: terms of the impact on harbor, and large parts of

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Speaker 2: the early planning, you know, for Middle Arm are very

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Speaker 2: much focused on the marine infrastructure, and that will necessarily

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Speaker 2: involve things like dredging and removing mangroves, and a lot

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Speaker 2: of that is to facilitate products and in turn to

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Speaker 2: facilitate hydraulic fracturing of the beetle, which is obviously very

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Speaker 2: very contentious. So in some ways what we're proposing with

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Speaker 2: Larikia not only will be a first moving initiative, it

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Speaker 2: should shift the development pathway for the precinct more in

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Speaker 2: terms of terrestrial infrastructure. So funding from the Commonwealth to

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Speaker 2: bring in the big transmission from Livingston to Middle Arm

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Speaker 2: that's required to facilitate initiatives such as ours and ultimately

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Speaker 2: to facilitate clean energy. So I think it's fair to

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Speaker 2: say you have competing visions of the precinct now and

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Speaker 2: much to play out over the months and quarters and

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Speaker 2: years they had.

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Speaker 1: How significant though, is the agreement with Larochia Energy.

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Speaker 2: As I said, I think it has the commercial aspect

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Speaker 2: and then the signal aspect in terms of the important

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Speaker 2: alliance between a major proponent and the traditional owners. So

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Speaker 2: we think it's a landmark agreement in many ways, and

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Speaker 2: we're seeing the reaction gradually sort of transfused across stakeholders

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Speaker 2: in the days since we announced it. Obviously we've got

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Speaker 2: to follow through and we've been working at rapid pace

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Speaker 2: all year with got more major announcements soon in terms

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Speaker 2: of the build out of Taiwan and our major project

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Speaker 2: over the East Kimberly, and so the owner is now

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Speaker 2: on both Larikiir Development Corporation and ourselves is to deliver

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Speaker 2: because as you know, Katie, there's always pies in the

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Speaker 2: sky when it's come to major projects, and what we're

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Speaker 2: looking to do here is start with actually be something

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Speaker 2: quite modest. We've got two initiatives for Darwin in the

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Speaker 2: next twelve months, which is the donating lex light facility

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Speaker 2: and the build out of our pilot plant, which we

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Speaker 2: expect to happen in Eastam. So we're very much in

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Speaker 2: favor of a crawl and walk then run approach things

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Speaker 2: that are shove already, things that can be funded, things

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Speaker 2: that are credible, and in my strong view, without the

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Speaker 2: backing of Larichia Development Corporation, I think it's really really

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Speaker 2: difficult to proceed. Whereas we have that now and the

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Speaker 2: deal we've got in that sense is extremely significant.

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Speaker 1: Grant spot on and you know, I guess for us

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Speaker 1: in the NT we've heard at different times about different

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Speaker 1: major projects potentially getting underway and we have been disappointed

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Speaker 1: over the years by some of those projects not getting

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Speaker 1: underway in their full form. Tell our listeners what exactly

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Speaker 1: is a vanadium electrolyte facility, because there'll be some people's

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Speaker 1: eyes glazing over going. I have no idea what that is.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I understand. Let me break it down in really

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Speaker 2: simple terms and try to address the thrust of the

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Speaker 2: question as well. It is extremely difficult for major projects

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Speaker 2: to get up in the non territory and the remote

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Speaker 2: jurisdictions because of cost yep and because of scarcity of labor,

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Speaker 2: and oftentimes because of the infrastructure. So that cycle of

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Speaker 2: people promising giddy visions and not being out to follow

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Speaker 2: through and execute is largely driven by by those dynamics.

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Speaker 2: What we see for the territory is that you've got

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Speaker 2: to really play to your strength and the durable competitive

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Speaker 2: advantage of that non territory and north Western Australia has

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Speaker 2: is the propensity for large scale solar supported by tudicitional

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Speaker 2: owners and then ultimately our resource over its We we

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Speaker 2: have the largest vanadium resources in the world, extremely high grade,

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Speaker 2: and we can create a supply chain which can turn

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Speaker 2: build large scale grid storage batteries. And if you've got

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Speaker 2: the best solo in the world and the best long

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Speaker 2: duration batteries in the world, all pulling together at middle Arm,

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Speaker 2: along with huge industrial uses of electricity such as impacts

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Speaker 2: and Darwin Ellen g then you actually have the fundamentals

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Speaker 2: required to build the largest renewal ball precinct globally. But

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Speaker 2: it ultimately comes back Katie to walk, Crawl, Walk, Run

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Speaker 2: and playing to your strength, and I think in the

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Speaker 2: past that's been one of the main sadiens people have

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Speaker 2: got ahead of themselves and not necessarily play to the

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Speaker 2: strengths of the territory.

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Speaker 1: So what's the next step from your perspective.

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Speaker 2: Well, we're going to be fascinated to see what happens

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Speaker 2: with the Middle Arm inquiry. We're expecting to get called

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Speaker 2: could be as early as late November early December, based

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Speaker 2: on parliamentary sitting times. We hope to see this polarization

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Speaker 2: start to abate and we hope as well that over

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Speaker 2: the next call it eight nine months obviously, bearing mind

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Speaker 2: as election Katie, you would know that on territory next year

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Speaker 2: that we can make meaningful progress in terms of maturing

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Speaker 2: this pathway for the terrestrial infrastructure for Middle Arm. If

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Speaker 2: we can get the key players around the table, and

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Speaker 2: that includes commercial players as well as LA Care as

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Speaker 2: well as anti government as well as camera and work

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Speaker 2: through the scopes that are required to bring in that transmission,

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Speaker 2: to bring in the green networking, switching and so on

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Speaker 2: and so forth, you'll have created a durable pathway to

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Speaker 2: start to build the precinct out. It will be very

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Speaker 2: obvious to stakeholders a duo community that there's been a shift,

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Speaker 2: there's real progress, and I think again we can turn

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Speaker 2: from hesitation and the sort of negativity that I see

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Speaker 2: in Darwin and more to this sense of hope and

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Speaker 2: a really directed purpose.

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Speaker 1: So the next step, I guess is seeing what happens

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Speaker 1: in that Senate inquiry and Grant. I mean it sounds

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Speaker 1: like you are really going to be talking about the

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Speaker 1: benefits of the development of ARM, the Middle Arm precinct

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Speaker 1: and you know what you guys can do, what Tai

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Speaker 1: Vang can do?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, one hundred percent. And just to really reinforce that point, Katie,

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Speaker 2: we've obviously moved our headquarters to Darwin this year, so

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Speaker 2: we're very much embedded now in the local community. I

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Speaker 2: think I have figured outdo and to a large extent,

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Speaker 2: and people are very welcome as well to attend out

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Speaker 2: annual general meetings. It's very unusual, in fact, for an

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Speaker 2: ASTHEX listed company to be headquartered in Darwen, as we

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Speaker 2: are down on Bennett Street, and we're taking the additional

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Speaker 2: step of announcing that we're going to host our annual

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Speaker 2: general meeting, the first one really to tie in at

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Speaker 2: Charles Down University it's on the seventeenth November, a Friday,

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Speaker 2: and people are very much welcome to come along. We're

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Speaker 2: expecting more stakeholders than shareholders to be frank, and we

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Speaker 2: want it to be an open forum where we can

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Speaker 2: discuss these issues for a couple of hours, and so

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Speaker 2: anyone that's out there in the business community or has

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Speaker 2: a really strong interest in how Middle Arm is likely

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Speaker 2: to proceed from here, it's very much welcome to reach

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Speaker 2: out come along to that event, very much an open

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Speaker 2: community forum.

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Speaker 1: It sounds like you guys not only want to be

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Speaker 1: part of the community, but you want people to understand

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Speaker 1: your project properly. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Following all this effort and sort of velocity that we've

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Speaker 2: created at the company, the momentum that we have a

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Speaker 2: clear principles, Katie. So in respect to traditional owners, we

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Speaker 2: don't talk about consent. We think that term is fundamentally broken.

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Speaker 2: We've evolved the concepts of inclusion and participation and agreement

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Speaker 2: with our care as an example of that, and there'll

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Speaker 2: be more. And in terms of governance and community relations,

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Speaker 2: you know, we're not just kicking boxes, we're really living it.

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Speaker 2: And a lot of that comes down to concepts of

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Speaker 2: transparency and in terms of the community, that's really i

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Speaker 2: think what's been missing and localizing within the community as well.

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Speaker 2: So we are very much a differentiated entity, i would

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Speaker 2: say within the resources community, and we're sort of shattering

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Speaker 2: some shibalus as we go and we're proud of that.

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Speaker 2: And we're absolutely open to community engagement. We're seeking it

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Speaker 2: and we're listening as well. I think that's one of

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Speaker 2: the other things that's really differentiates High End. The first

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Speaker 2: couple of months under new management was just an exercise

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Speaker 2: and listening and getting to know people. Now we're making decisions.

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Speaker 2: Now we're executing, but it's been based on what we

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Speaker 2: learned well.

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Speaker 1: Grant Wilson, Taiwan Executive Chair, we really appreciate your time

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Speaker 1: this morning. Thank you very much for having a chat

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Speaker 1: with us, and I'll be interested to try and catch

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Speaker 1: up with you as well after you guys speak if

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Speaker 1: you are called to that Senate hearing, and if so,

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Speaker 1: I'd be really keen to have a chat with you again.

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Speaker 2: Thanks again, Keatie, thank you