Mr. Tory is a highly experienced resources executive with significant rare earths experience having held key leadership roles at Northern Minerals initially as CFO and then subsequently CEO while they developed the Browns Range Rare Earth Project, including the planning, building and operation of a A$70 million pilot plant. His previous executive experience includes Managing Director of Crescent Gold Limited, after a period as CFO and Company Secretary. He has had international exposure to resources’ capital markets as well as holding key leadership roles in companies that range from exploration to development through to operating mines across commodities, including rare earths, battery materials, base metals and gold. Mr. Tory is a Chartered Accountant and holds a BBus, MBA and is a Graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (GAICD).

Mr. Mahdavi has over 30 years of experience in the capital markets focusing on the rare earth industry. He is the Founder and Managing Director of Spinnaker Capital Markets Inc., a Toronto based capital markets advisory firm with a 20-year track record in charting long term success for private and public companies in a variety of sectors specializing in finding growth capital, mergers and acquisitions, and investor relations. Prior to joining the Defense Metals team, Mr. Mahdavi was SVP, Corporate Development and Capital Markets at Neo Performance Materials, where he spent more than 20 years working closely with the board and management team to successfully access capital and identify funding solutions to grow the business, and advising on M&A strategies. Mr. Mahdavi attended York University where he studied Economics and Business and started his career at the Bank of Nova Scotia and the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.

Mr. Goode has been responsible for design, monitoring, and interpretation of several programs of beneficiation and hydrometallurgical testwork, engineering and economic evaluations of new and existing processing operations for the recovery of rare earth element (REE), and other elements from ore and other sources. John graduated from the Royal School of Mines, London University, where he obtained a B.Sc. (Chemical Engineering in Metallurgy). John spent 18 years at Kilborn Engineering, where he attained the title of Vice President, Mining and Metallurgy and Director, managing a team of mining and metallurgical engineers responsible for feasibility and due diligence studies, and the design and commissioning of REE recovery and separation facilities, and he also has experience with gold, base metal, and uranium plants. He has over 50 years experience as a metallurgist and has worked on numerous rare earth projects located in Canada, USA, China, Australia, Russia, and elsewhere. Some of the projects include Niocan Inc. Nb, Ta, REE project; Rare Element Resources’ Bear Lodge REE project; Avalon Rare Metal’s Thor Lake project; Hudson’s REE Sarfartoq project; Appia and Pele Mountain Elliot Lake U-REE projects; Serra Verde ionic clay project in Brazil; Quest’s Strange Lake project; Pea Ridge Fe tailings project; Search Minerals Foxtrot deposit; and Polymetal/Vostok’s Tomtor REE-Nb-Sc-V-Th project in Siberia, among others.

Mr. Baker earned his Bachelor of Economics and designation as a Chartered Accountant in Australia before settling in Vancouver in 2005, where he completed an MBA at the University of British Columbia and became a Canadian citizen. David worked within the Ivanhoe Mines group of companies for over 20 years in a variety of roles encompassing operations, the development and financing of the Oyu Tolgoi Copper mine in Mongolia as VP Treasurer, and as CFO of VRB Energy, a high-tech vanadium redox battery company active in manufacturing and R&D within China and internationally. Mr. Baker has spent the last two years with TSX-V listed Camino Mineral Resources as CFO, supporting their corporate development strategy, which recently culminated in the successful acquisition of a construction stage copper project.

A mining industry leader with over 25 years’ experience in environmental programs, permitting, and social performance, holding senior roles with companies such as GT Gold, Newmont, and Argonaut Gold.