MANAGEMENT
GUY DE SELLIERS | Executive Chairman
Over his 45-year career, Guy has been involved in innumerable transactions across a multitude of sectors spanning all continents, including as both an advisor and principle within, equity, debt, M+A and political risk insurance. Some of the most notable activities relating to the natural resource sector include his involvement with SNIM in Mauritania over the last 40 years, Board Member and Adviser to Ivanhoe Mines over the previous 15 years and acting as a co/chairman on behalf of the EC of a committee created to facilitate the financing of large-scale Oil & Gas projects in Russia. As well as acting as an advisor to Rio-Tinto on the Simandou project, Guy has been the Executive Chairman of the Nimba project in Guinea, he was a Miga agent and advisor to MIGA clients, a strategic and financing adviser for the development of the Anaklia Port in Georgia, lead non-executive director of Norilsk Nickel, and a project finance advisor for the US$ 4bn limited recourse financing for Oyu Tolgoi alongside many others.
LUISA MORENO, PHD | President + Director
Dr. Luisa Moreno is a Physics Engineer, with a PhD in Materials Science and Mechanics from Imperial College London, in the United Kingdom. She has held positions as Senior Analyst at various Toronto-based investment companies. She is known as a leading analyst in rare earths and has published several reports and articles for the investment community. Currently, Dr. Moreno is the Chief Executive Officer of Graphano Energy Ltd. and the Managing Director of Tahuti Global Inc., a company that she founded. As a strategic consultant she assists both public and private companies and institutional investors with economic and technical assessments of mineral assets and technologies. She also works with government institutions tasked with overseeing mineral development, value addition and supply chain development. Dr. Moreno is also on the board of directors of several companies exploring and developing strategic minerals and green technologies. She is a recognized strategic minerals specialist and a common valued guest speaker on television and at international conferences.
ALEX HEATH CFA, ICD.D | Senior VP, Corporate Development + Interim CFO
Alex has a B.Com. with honours from the University of British Columbia and is a CFA Charterholder. He spent eight years with Salman Partners including as a Vice-President of Investment Banking focused on mining financings and merger and acquisition transactions. In 2019, he joined Discovery Group as Strategic Advisor, Corporate Development & Investor Relations. Mr. Heath is also a director of several public mining issuers.
DALE WALLSTER | Director
Dale Wallster is a prospector and geologist with over 40 years’ experience in North American mineral deposit exploration. As President and founder of Roughrider Uranium Corp., which was acquired by Hathor Exploration Limited in 2006, Dale and his team are widely credited for the discovery of Hathor’s Roughrider deposit. In January of 2012 Rio Tinto plc acquired Hathor for CAD$650 million.
SUZANNE RICH FOLSOM | Director
Suzanne Rich Folsom career includes senior corporate executive roles at ACADEMI, as the EVP, General Counsel, and Chief Compliance Officer, at AIG, as the Deputy GC and Chief Regulatory & Compliance Officer, and at the World Bank where she was the Counselor to the President and Director of the Department of Institutional Integrity. In addition, Ms. Folsom has held distinctive public administration roles including serving as: the Private Secretary to H.M. Queen Noor of Jordan; First Family Liaison to the Presidential Inaugural Committee; Special Assistant to Barbara Bush; Advisor to the US Delegation to the U.N. World Women’s Conference in Kenya; Chief of Staff to the Co-Chair of a U.S. national political party; and she practiced law with three global law firms. She is a frequent thought leadership contributor and speaker and has been recognized in the United States and abroad for her many contributions. Ms. Folsom holds a juris doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center and a bachelor’s degree from Duke University. Previous board service has included the boards of Advanced Metallurgical Group AMG, VELUX LLC, and Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy. Ms. Folsom currently serves on the boards of the iconic Encyclopaedia Britannica, today a global digital media learning and knowledge products company, and Ecore International, a revolutionary leader in rubber circularity and a transformational waste company. She is also an Advisor to EqualFuture LLC, an AI-assisted financial wellness and education FinTech start-up.
MARTIN CRONIN | Director
Previously, he spent over 20 years in international diplomacy with the British Government with appointments primarily in the Middle East and South Asia. Following a posting as British Consul-General to Western Canada, Martin settled in British Columbia and joined the private sector, serving as CEO and Director of several private and public companies in the public safety and defence sectors. Martin is former Honorary Colonel of a Canadian Army Primary Reserve Regiment.
TED KAVANAGH | Director
Director of Metals & Mining Finance, Americas for Société Générale until his retirement in 2021, where he originated and executed corporate and project finance facilities, marketed metals implemented foreign exchange hedging and trading lines, and provided related advisory services. From 1991 to 2013, he acted in a similar capacity for a series of banks including Standard Bank of South Africa, HSBC Securities (USA) Inc., HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc., Republic National Bank of New York, and Mase Westpac Inc.
KRISTOPHER J. RAFFLE | NI 43 – 101 Qualified Person / Advisor
Kristopher J. Raffle, B.Sc., PGeo, serves as the Qualified Person for Defense Metals Corp. Mr. Raffle is also a current director of New Placer Dome Gold Corp. Mr. Raffle is a Partner and Principal Geologist with the Edmonton-based leading geologic consulting firm, APEX Geoscience Ltd. Mr. Raffle has over 20 years’ experience conducting property evaluation, intensive exploration data analysis, exploration-program design, and geological modelling, with respect to Archean and Calrin-type-gold, copper-gold-porphyry, gold-silver-epithermal, volcanic-hosted-massive-sulphide, rare-earth-element, and kimberlite-diamond deposits throughout Canada, USA, and Mexico.
JOHN GOODE | Metallurgical Consultant
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.
JOHN ROBINS, P.GEO | Strategic Advisor
John Robins is a professional geologist, prospector, and entrepreneur with over 35 years of experience in the mining industry. In 2022 he was the recipient of the AME's Murray Pezim Award for his significant contribution to the financing of exploration and development projects over the last 20 years. He was also awarded the Spud Huestis Award in 2008 for having made significant contributions to mineral exploration in British Columbia and Yukon.
Mr. Robins has been involved in several notable discoveries, including the 5M oz Coffee Gold deposit in Yukon, the Three Bluffs gold deposit in the Committee Bay greenstone belt, the Aviat / Churchill diamond districts of Nunavut, and the Great Bear project in north-western Ontario. Through his entrepreneurship, John has been instrumental in over CDN$3B in M&A activity and has generated over $1B in direct and indirect mineral expenditures throughout Canada, Latin America, and Australia. Notable recent successes include the sales of Great Bear Resources Ltd. to Kinross Gold Corp. for $1.8B, Great Bear Royalties Corp. to Royal Gold Inc. for $200M, and Kaminak Gold Corp. to Goldcorp for $510M.
John's outstanding strategic guidance, technical expertise, strong industry relationships, and steadfast adherence to ethical practices, underpin his status as a leading steward of the junior mining industry. He currently acts as Chairman of Elemental Altus Royalties and K2 Gold Corp. Mr. Robins is also a Director of Elemental Altus Royalties and Fireweed Metals Corp., and a Strategic Advisor to Kodiak Copper Corp., ValOre Metals Corp., and Prospector Metals Corp.
KARL T. WAGNER | Strategic Advisor
Founder and CEO of Eastern Sky Technologies, a global risk consultancy specializing in crisis management and corporate resilience.
An expert in foreign affairs and international security with more than 30 years of worldwide experience delivering success in complex projects and managing risk in emerging markets, including Latin America, East Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. Planned and executed multi-million-dollar budgets and delivered effect at the nexus of security, technology, and geopolitics in the world’s most challenging operating environments. Experience interacting with foreign decision-makers, corporate executives, and foreign policy communities domestically and internationally. Expertise in leading diverse, enterprise-level teams globally, in mitigating strategic risk in complex situations, and in managing fast-breaking transnational crises.
Strategic Advisor to several private sector organizations and charities. Active in non-profit work in the veterans advocacy and PTSD prevention space.
WILLIAM H. BIRD | Advisor
Dr. William H. Bird, PGeo, has a unique combination of business credentials and mineral-industry expertise, with a broad background as officer and independent director for publicly traded mineral-resource companies. He was the CEO of two publicly traded rare-earth companies. He also has solid academic and research experience. He began his career as a mineralogist with the Anaconda company’s Extractive Metallurgical Research Division, where he worked directly with Anaconda’s worldwide exploration, mine, and metallurgical personnel to solve mineralogical problems. At the University of Colorado and Colorado State University, Dr. Bird taught various mineralogy courses. His research has generally dealt with the mineralogy and ore deposits of precious, base, and minor metals. As a consultant and a company executive, he managed projects involving industrial, ferrous, precious, minor, and base metals. Recently, he has focused on developing low-cost, long-term supplies of the rare-earth elements.