5E Advanced Materials (NASDAQ:FEAM) used its fiscal second-quarter 2026 earnings call to highlight progress across federal financing outreach, customer validation efforts, engineering work ahead of a final investment decision (FID), and project-positioning initiatives tied to its Fort Cady boron project in California. Chief Executive Officer Paul Weibel described the quarter as “defined by execution, validation, and advancement,” and said the company is working to translate what it views as improving strategic alignment for U.S. boron supply into concrete milestones.
Market backdrop and strategic positioning
Weibel emphasized the company’s view that the global borates market remains “structurally tight,” pointing to Turkey’s dominant role in supply. He said Turkey controls “approximately 70% of global reserves and approximately 65% of global production,” comparing Turkey’s position in boron to China’s position in rare earths.
Weibel said boron’s inclusion on the USGS Critical Minerals List has increased engagement with strategic stakeholders and broadened the discussion from an industrial mineral focus to a “broader national supply chain discussion.”
Federal financing engagement and non-dilutive pathways
A major portion of the prepared remarks focused on financing engagement tied to boron’s critical mineral designation. Weibel said the company remains engaged with the U.S. Export-Import Bank (EXIM) under the “Make More in America” framework and noted that 5E holds a previously issued letter of interest.
During the quarter, the company advanced discussions with EXIM regarding Fort Cady’s alignment with U.S. export competitiveness, downstream manufacturing, and supply chain resilience. Weibel also said 5E progressed work related to the EXIM Engineering Multiplier Program, which is intended to support advanced engineering activities on a non-dilutive basis. He said the effort was “slightly delayed” due to the “fall of 2025 government shutdown,” and that the company expects to formally kick off with EXIM’s underwriting team “next week.”
Weibel described the Engineering Multiplier Program as a potential source of funding that could cover “a significant portion” of FEED activities and “further de-risk the project ahead of FID.”
In parallel, he said 5E continues evaluating opportunities across several federal frameworks, including:
- Department of Energy Loan Programs Office
- Office of Strategic Capital
- U.S. Development Finance Corporation
Weibel added that the company submitted an application to the Department of Energy’s “Mines of the Future” notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), which provides non-dilutive funding for projects that pilot advanced mining and processing technologies. He said Fort Cady aligns with “eight of the nine” DOE focus areas in the NOFO and that DOE is expected to announce winners “next month.” While acknowledging the program is “highly competitive,” he said Fort Cady’s technical approach, strategic partners, and alignment with U.S. priorities support the company’s candidacy.
Fort Cady development work and engineering progress
Operationally, Weibel said Fort Cady continues to progress according to the company’s development roadmap. He referenced the company’s pre-feasibility study, which he said confirmed a strong economic foundation, including a “nearly 40-year mine life” based only on proven and probable mineral reserves, along with project economics “based solely on phase one of the development cycle.”
During the fiscal second quarter, Weibel said the company advanced FEED-related work streams by refining process design, infrastructure planning, and execution sequencing. He framed these efforts as aimed at ensuring the project is “construction ready,” rather than only permitted or engineered “on paper.”
He also said the company continued initiatives to strengthen long-term mineral tenure and to define and expand mineral resources. In addition, Weibel stated that 5E filed an “omnibus patent” covering its in-situ leaching mining process, describing this as part of laying the groundwork for a portfolio of intellectual property tied to proprietary in-situ recovery and processing approaches.
Weibel further said that, as the largest borate producer in the U.S. undergoes a strategic review, 5E believes its IP could help expand resource life and improve economics at that producer. He characterized the patent filing as a strategic move intended to protect competitive advantages and support long-term growth.
Customer validation, commercial discussions, and specialty boron
On the commercial front, Weibel said the company expanded customer engagement across multiple applications after a prior large-scale shipment and trial, and noted that it successfully completed a “full-scale glass trial” during the quarter. He said that milestone has progressed commercial discussions with future customers.
Weibel said commercial discussions for boric acid are “increasingly centered on commercial structures and long-term supply relationships rather than just technical qualifications,” and argued that each trial and validation step brings the company closer to offtake agreements.
He also highlighted specialty applications, including ferroboron, which he described as a critical component in permanent magnet manufacturing. Looking ahead, Weibel said a specialty boron work stream has made ferroboron a priority, with a goal of providing “magnet-grade ferroboron” to potential customers for testing in “late spring.”
Outlook and priorities
Weibel outlined priorities for the remainder of fiscal 2026 focused on moving from development toward execution. Those priorities include advancing customer engagement toward structured offtake agreements, executing pre-FID and FEED work with discipline, and continuing to pursue non-dilutive federal financing pathways enabled by boron’s critical mineral designation.
The call included no analyst questions, and management closed by reiterating its view that Fort Cady is a long-life asset with a clear development path and that the company intends to execute responsibly while working to build a scalable domestic boron supply platform.
About 5E Advanced Materials (NASDAQ:FEAM)
5E Advanced Materials, Inc develops and manufactures high-performance anode materials for lithium-ion batteries, specializing in silicon-carbon composite solutions. The company’s proprietary processes yield anode materials that deliver enhanced energy density, extended cycle life and faster charge rates compared to conventional graphite anodes. These advanced materials are targeted at electric vehicle manufacturers, consumer electronics producers and grid-scale energy storage providers seeking to improve battery performance and sustainability.
The firm operates a pilot production facility in Harrodsburg, Kentucky, where it carries out research, development and small-scale manufacturing to validate its processes and assess commercial viability.
