First Phosphate Adds US$212.5 Million in Swiss Support to Its Quebec Mine Financing Plan

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First Phosphate has secured a significant financial milestone with a support guarantee of US$212.5 million from Swiss export risk insurance for its mining project in Quebec. This funding is part of a broader strategy involving international partners, including Denmark's Export-Import Bank and Switzerland's Serve, which together cover up to 85% of the required capital expenditure. By leveraging these export credit agencies, the company drastically reduces the equity component needed to build the mine, bringing the remaining cash requirement down to less than US$70 million. This approach effectively mitigates the fear of excessive dilution that often plagues mining projects, allowing First Phosphate to move forward with construction while preserving shareholder value. The company's recent listing on the NASDAQ has also played a pivotal role in expanding its investor base and market visibility. Following this move, the number of registered shareholders for the 2026 Annual General Meeting surged by an impressive 861%, rising from approximately 1,200 to nearly 12,000 within just one year. This dramatic increase reflects growing global interest in First Phosphate's high-purity igneous phosphate, which is essential for lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries. While the price of phosphate has recently corrected after a substantial rise driven by fertilizer costs and supply chain issues like sulfur shortages, the company remains optimistic about its long-term prospects as it navigates these market fluctuations. Beyond securing funding, First Phosphate distinguishes itself through a proactive approach to capital markets management that addresses investor concerns before they become critical issues. The leadership team, drawing on decades of experience in trading and finance, prioritizes managing share price, investor expectations, and financing risks early in the project lifecycle. This strategy aims to prevent companies from entering "orphan periods" where lack of funding stalls development. By answering major market questions upfront regarding how the project will be financed and how dilution will be managed, the company has successfully built trust and confidence among potential shareholders, positioning itself as a leader in creative financing for critical mineral sectors. Looking ahead, First Phosphate is focused on achieving key milestones that align with its accelerated development timeline. The company aims to complete its feasibility study in the first quarter of 2027, seek permitting sometime later that year, and make a final investment decision by the end of 2027. These early financing steps are already laying the groundwork for these goals, demonstrating the company's ability to layer tasks efficiently to maintain momentum. The recent Carney Investment Summit further reinforced this trajectory, with high-profile international investors signaling strong support for Canada's critical mineral infrastructure projects. As First Phosphate continues to execute its plan, it remains committed to bringing its Quebec mine to light while maintaining a robust and growing shareholder community.

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[music] Breaking news again at First Phosphate. What extraordinary headlines this morning, John. I'm reading that the Swiss export risk insurance is going to provide support and a support guarantee of 212.5 million for capex of first phosphates mine project in Quebec. Um there's a lot of questions I have about this, but how about you just start with how you secured this deal? It's quite extraordinary. >> Well, it happened through our relationships with uh the G7 and with uh the European partners and in general with the other export credit agencies uh in Europe who want to see the project through and are all getting together to get behind the project and make sure we've got the uh full capital to move as quickly as possible here. I was reading some comments about this uh news release already this morning and I think the most exciting element for a lot of investors or potential shareholders out there is that this is going to really enhance um first phosphate not becoming more dilutive in actually building the mine. Can you tell us a little bit more about the advantages of this particular financing? >> Yes, that's correct Tracy. So generally the um fear I guess around all mining projects is the dilution in the amount of equity that will be required to build the the project. So now between the um export import bank of uh Denmark Eiff sovereign fund and also serve out of Switzerland both those two cover up to 85% of the capex required for the mine. So you're looking at a very small equity component that that would be remaining. Now with our calculations, this also reduces the amount of equity required to actually build this mine less than 70 million. Are my calculations correct? >> Uh yes, it's about that. So um the the capex on the mine is about uh 450 to 500 uh USD and with these two um uh credit agencies uh coming to the table, it probably secures about uh 410 420 million of that. So there's only a very small uh equity component that's remaining here. >> And you've just started in the last month trading on NASDAQ. How's that going for you? >> It's going great. It's going great. Great exposure. Uh great new base of investors that who could never buy the stock before who are now able to be involved. There's just no more excuses. We're listed on a big board and uh you know it makes you really available to to the planet for investing. >> Obviously the trading on NASDAQ has been very positive for you. You just put out your AGM results and I read that the company is pleased to announce that it shareholders on record for the 2026 meeting increased by 861%. That is a fantastic number and you were attributing this to just a wider shareholder base. Can you tell us a little bit more about this? >> Yes, it was quite interesting when I went myself to look at the uh amount of shareholders that were registered uh for the to be able to vote in the AGM. We were we were shocked. Uh it was almost up like 10x. I think it went from 1,200 to to 12,000. I don't have the exact numbers, but it was a a massive massive increase in the shareholder base in only one year. And I think that shows just the interest that there is now around ignous phosphate for LFP. I think it it shows, you know, well on the uh great amount of work we're doing in the company and just the exposure and just the understanding around phosphate for LFP, especially ignous phosphate and the development of the company. We've been watching the price of phosphate and it seems to be taking a correction right now because it has increased substantially over the last year. Can you comment on this? >> Well, the price of phosphate is generally driven by the price of fertilizers. Ours is a little bit different. It's high purity ignous phosphate and it goes directly into technology into the LFP battery. [snorts] But in general, the price of phosphate has been ticking up and again it has a lot to do with the the uh issues in the hormones and the lack of sulfur and uh it really affects the whole industry as a whole. So not not necessarily the best thing for for consumers for food prices um when you have phosphate going up but I guess it it is it is some somewhat uh gives a little bit of reprieve uh to the industry when prices are going up but generally not a good thing. gas prices, food prices, phosphate prices, all these things going up is just not good out there in general. >> Carney's investment summit is all over the news and banks like TD lining up to start helping critical mineral supply chains achieve their goals. Do you have any comment on the uh on the Carne Investment Summit? >> Yeah, so uh we were invited out uh for a few of the sessions. Uh I think it was uh well done. I think it's uh as they are saying as well, it's just the beginning. uh it was done, you know, rather quickly. Um they did the best job that they could in the short amount of time that they had. And I think you got to look at this as, you know, not the event, but the beginning the beginning of a real care in Canada for its critical mineral projects, its infrastructure projects, and it was really uh amazing to see the amount of um you know uh high-profile investors that were at the summit from from all over the world. So it shows that we're supported. We will be supported in in bringing these infrastructure projects uh to to to light. And this agreement with Serve, the uh uh Swiss uh export credit agency was was was signed in light of that in light of the summit on the on the on the day of the closing of the summit. >> Well, I have to ask you, why are you such a leader in creative financing for first phosphate? because I'm planning on using you as an example in an upcoming speech I'm doing on capital markets in the critical mineral sector. Why do you seem at first boss to be doing everything better, John? >> Oh wow, that's quite a compliment. I think you know you have to also look at our experience base like even myself personally. I've been involved in capital markets since I was a young boy. I think I started in capital markets when I was 13. I I was already assisting the traders at the Toronto Stock Exchange on the floor when I was 17, 18, 19. those kind of really formative years. So, I've always been very much in tune with the markets and what capital markets are looking for. So, at First Phosphate, we're not just building a company, but we're we're also trying trying to see, you know, how we we we we manage our our our share price, how we manage our investors, how we manage expectations of investors. That's really important. And I don't think a lot of companies put that first and forward, but we have. So, what we understood very quickly is that, you know, financing risk is a really big one out there. And that's just this is why some companies go into these orphan periods. So we're just kind of you know figuring out what we have to do when we have to do it to answer the concerns of the market. So in doing this we answer some really major concerns in the market which are you know how are you going to finance yourself? How dilutive is it going to be? And we answer those questions up front. And my gosh do the investors love it. The investors really like it when you when you answer to see what what their concerns are. And sometimes our concerns are are you know maybe not necessarily tangible and not really real but you know a fear is a fear. So, um, we we we try to take care of that and I think we've done a great job here. 85% of the of the capex, um, already spoken for, so to speak, and, uh, you know, we still haven't finished our feasibility study, which should be out here in the next few months. So, getting ahead of the markets, getting ahead of what what what investors need? [snorts] >> Uh, very good wisdom. Can you tell us what shareholders should be looking forward to in the upcoming quarter? >> Well, as you know, they didn't expect this. They didn't expect the NASDAQ listing. There's always all kinds of surprises, but obviously, we can't talk about those. those are within the the realm of the of of of the company and in um you know privileged information. Uh so basically you know what our published milestones are right now is the feasibility study for Q1 of 2027. We're hoping on permitting uh sometime in 2027 and we're hoping to have made our final investment decision by end of 2027. And obviously Tracy these uh you know financing steps that come to the table here early are already working towards that. We're already working towards uh final investment decision. We're already working towards permitting. you know, we're we're well into our feasibility study. So, we're we're a company that layers things almost, you know, one on top of the other just so we can go quicker and so that we can have exposure and know what we we need to know and know what we don't know very early. >> And for those of you wanting to learn more about first phosphate, please go to the following website. John, thank you so much for joining us today. >> Great, Tracy. Always great to be here. You're doing a wonderful job, by the way.