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©Copyright 2022. Ucore Rare Metals Inc. All Rights Reserved. Forward Looking Information & Qualified Person
Team
Management Team
Pat Ryan, P.Eng.
Chairman & Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Ryan is the Founder of Neocon International, a multi-million-dollar automotive OEM design and lean manufacturing company which he conceptualized in 1993. From the outset he was the strategic architect responsible for raising capital, procuring equipment and facilities, assembling and directing a team of R&D engineers and establishing niche product opportunities including light-weighting to improve fuel efficiency. He has amassed twenty-five plus years of business experience serving customers such as Honda, General Motors and Nissan/Renault with numerous team awards for stellar performance, including Toyota’s Platinum Quality Alliance Award received in 2016. His understanding of complex supply chains across international markets has led to a prime positioning as the global auto world transitions to vehicle electrification. Mr. Ryan began as a Director of Ucore in 2014 when he had a heightened interest with critical metals needed to drive change for the technologies of the twenty-first century. Mr. Ryan frequently speaks publically to business leaders looking for new insights and mentors MBA as well as graduating engineering students from Dalhousie University from which he holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree. He is the recipient of the APENS Award from the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia as the most likely to serve society in an ethical manner.
Peter Manuel
Vice-President, Chief Financial Officer & Corporate Secretary
Peter Manuel has been Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Ucore for 12 years. Prior to joining the Company, he practiced as a Chartered Accountant for more than 17 years providing consulting services to companies in a range of sectors, with a focus on the financial services and resource sectors. He spent 10 years in England and The Republic of Ireland providing assurance, strategic planning, corporate finance and other consulting services to a portfolio of both public and private entities including licensed banks, proprietary trading operations, and international corporate treasuries. Mr. Manuel holds a Bachelor of Commerce Degree from Dalhousie University.
Michael Schrider, MEng, P.E.
Vice-President & Chief Operating Officer
Since 1989, Mr. Schrider has been involved in manufacturing, engineering and managing complex structural and mechanical systems projects. He is a multidisciplinary engineer and business leader who has led Ucore’s project development efforts since joining the Company in 2016. Mike was the founder, president and chief engineer of Schrider & Associates, Inc. (SAi) and Alton Bay Design, LLC (ABD), both engineering services firms, for over 17 years. Before that, he held various engineering and management roles in several North American shipyards and a synthetic lubricant manufacturing facility. He received a Bachelor of Science in naval architecture and marine engineering from the University of New Orleans and is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Louisiana. Mike also holds a Master of Engineering in mining, geological & geophysical engineering (mineral processing emphasis) from The University of Arizona.
Jaan Hurditch, CEng
Ucore Engineering Director
Mr. Hurditch joins the Company as Engineering Director and leads Ucore’s engineering activities. He formerly worked with Ucore’s subsidiary Innovation Metals Corp. (“IMC“) for the past 2-1/2 years as the RapidSX™ Platform Development Manager. Mr. Huditch has been the driving force behind the development of the RapidSX™ hardware platform, which is now undergoing commissioning trials at the Kingston, Ontario, Demonstration Plant and will soon be commercially deployed during the construction of the Louisiana SMC over 2023 and 2024.
Mr. Hurditch received a Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering and Mechanical Technology from the Queensland University of Technology in Australia and has 18 years of experience in mineral processing, material handling and resource recovery. He has managed the technical objectives for projects in North America, Europe, Australia, Africa, and Mexico. Mr. Hurditch brings both managerial and technical skills with experience developing new and innovative systems and products, having strong competencies in team building, 3D computer-aided design, finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics and rapid prototyping technologies.
Geoff Atkins
Ucore Vice President of Business Development
Mr. Atkins is a skilled mining executive with 30 years of experience, including over 15 years in the critical mineral sector, focusing on the development of rare earth projects and joins the Company as Vice President of Business Development. He remains one of the few mining executives outside of China who has played a critical role in establishing two different rare earth operations, Mt. Weld with Lynas Corporation (Lynas) and Nechalacho with Vital Metals Ltd. (Vital Metals). While at Lynas, he was responsible for a range of functions, including the construction of the Mt. Weld rare earth project, providing corporate construction oversight for the Lynas Advanced Materials Plant in Malaysia, and developing long-term strategic plans.
Mr. Atkins utilized his particular skills in project delivery, finance, and corporate strategy to then found Cheetah Resources, which was subsequently taken over by Vital Metals. By applying this unique mix of expertise and experience, he will similarly develop implementation strategies to secure contracts with rare earth feedstock projects around the globe to support Ucore’s SMC Business Model. He will evaluate each project’s specific attributes to ensure a diverse security of supply with minimized geo-political risks and development timelines. The Nechalacho rare earth project in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, best demonstrated this approach. Mr. Atkins finalized the acquisition of this asset in 2019, resulting in the commencement of operations at Canada’s first rare earth mine within 2 years. This represented a remarkable achievement compared to the typical industry standard of 10+ year mining development timelines. Nechalacho was the first new rare earth project brought into production in nearly 10 years. These achievements and industry experience uniquely qualify Mr. Atkins to lead the feedstock acquisition efforts for Ucore’s North American SMC strategy.
Mark MacDonald
Vice-President of Investor Relations
Mr. MacDonald has over 25 years experience implementing award winning business development and marketing programs at a regional and national level. As Vice President of Sales, Mr. MacDonald was responsible for Mediapro Communication’s growth as AT&T Canada’s leading Canadian Business to Business sales partner. Mr. MacDonald subsequently took over all responsibilities of the Atlantic Regional Vice President of AT&T Canada Corp. As VP of Operations for Premier Executive Suites Mr. MacDonald consolidated four business units into one regional operation that was awarded Atlantic Canada’s, “Best Places to Work” in 2009/10/11. He holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Dalhousie University.
Dr. Ahmad Hussein
Ucore Advisory Board Member and Government Liaison
In concert with the addition of Mr. Atkins and Mr. Hurditch, Ucore has significantly strengthened its Advisory Board with the recent appointment of Dr. Ahmad Hussein as Ucore’s designated Government Liaison. Dr. Hussein is cultivating strategic relationships with Canadian and US government agencies slated to award billions of funding dollars over the remainder of the decade toward essential North American critical minerals projects.
Dr. Hussein’s previous international success in launching, scaling, and funding renewable energy projects has enabled him to develop business connectivity throughout all levels of government. In addition, he brings potential partners across the supply chain that will add value to Ucore’s proprietary RapidSX™ technology platform opportunities and long-term strategic plans. Over the last year, significant advances in the Company’s technology, market presence, and commercialization efforts have created the impetus to accelerate the Company’s goals by expanding the capacity and focus of its Advisory Board, to which Dr. Hussein is a very welcome addition.
Board of Directors
Geoff Clarke, MBA, LL.B., LL.M.
Director
Mr. Clarke is a Partner in the Toronto office of Miller Thomson LLP, a full-service national law firm with approximately 550 lawyers. Mr. Clarke is the Head of the Firm’s Mining Department. Mr. Clarke has over 20 years of experience in investment banking, financial advisory services, corporate and securities law. His law practice focuses on advising public companies, institutional investors and investment banks in regard to securities offerings, mergers and acquisitions, corporate governance, shareholder activism, continuous disclosure, stock exchange matters and securities regulatory compliance matters. His M&A experience includes advising special committees in connection with take-overs, reorganizations, and searching for and prioritizing strategic alternatives. Mr. Clarke has extensive experience with clients in the mining sector. Mr. Clarke was formerly a partner at a large international business law firm that was a six-times recipient of a global “Mining Law Firm of the Year” award. Geoff is also the past-President of a Canadian investment dealer that serviced international and domestic institutional investors as well as many publicly listed companies. His role at the dealer included providing financial and strategic advice to mining industry companies regarding off-take agreements, joint-ventures, strategic partnerships and raising capital. Geoff also has experience serving on advisory committees for securities regulators in Canada such as IIROC and the Ontario Securities Commission. Geoff also taught Business Law at York University as an Adjunct Professor and he currently teaches Corporate Finance at the University of Windsor Law School, which is a course that he taught every year since Sept. 2007. Geoff is recognized by the Canadian Legal Lexpert Directory for his expertise in Corporate Finance & Securities (2018) and by Best Lawyers in Canada for Mining Law (2021).
Jarda Dostal, Ph.D., P.Geo.
Director
Dr. Dostal is Professor Emeritus of Geology at Saint Mary’s University in Halifax. He obtained a Ph.D. in Geology from McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario). He has over 40 years of experience in geology, ore deposit studies, and geochemistry. He has published more than 300 scientific papers and is a widely acknowledged expert on rare metal mineralization in granitoids and volcanic rocks. At Saint Mary’s University, he was on the Board of Governors and the executive committee of the Senate and established a regional geochemical center. He was the Canadian project director of the CIDA project in Mongolia, the Canadian project director for the NAFTA project, North American Mobility in Higher Education (Geology), Chair of the Earth Science committee of Science Atlantic, a member of the McMaster University Nuclear Reactor Management Board and Chair of the Volcanology and Igneous Petrology Division of Geological Association of Canada. He has also been Honorary Professor of the Mongolian University of Science and Technology in Ulaanbaatar, Visiting Professor at the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, Adjunct Professor of Department of Earth Sciences, Dalhousie University, Adjunct Professor of Department of Geological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, Ohio, USA and Visiting Scholar of Department of Earth Sciences, National Taiwan Normal University, Taipei, Taiwan. He also had faculty appointments at Universite Aix-Marseille 3, Universite de Montpellier 2, and Universita di Modena. His research has been recognized by scientific awards including the Distinguished Scientist Award of the Atlantic Geoscience Society (Gesner Medal), the Career Achievement Award of the Volcanology and Igneous Petrology Division of the Geological Association of Canada and the Hawley Medal, Mineralogical Association of Canada.
Steven Meister
Director
Mr. Meister has over 25 years of management and business development experience across Canada. Since 1995. Mr. Meister has been strategically involved in various key business initiatives involving the mining industry, O&G industry, utility companies across northern and western Canada. Currently, Mr. Meister is employed with Williams Engineering Canada Ltd as Director, Client Development and Delivery. As a member of the senior leadership team and a key company share-holder, Mr. Meister provides oversight for the northern Canada regional offices and directs the Business Development and Project Management function of Williams Engineering across the organization. Previously, Mr. Meister worked at Stantec (formally Jacques Whitford Stantec AXYS) as the operations manager for northern Canada, Business Development Manager for ARDICOM, an aboriginal partnership between Northern Aboriginal Services Company (NASCo), Arctic Co-operatives Limited (ACL) and Northwestel. Additionally, he has served on regional and national boards and committees, and currently serves as a director on the corporate board of Williams Engineering Canada Inc and as a director on the board of Akaitcho Business Development Corporation since 2006.
Randy Johnson
Director
Mr. Johnson is the President of Tyler Rental Inc., an Alaska-based enterprise with over 100 employees, which he founded as a start-up in 1989 and subsequently grew to a multi-state enterprise. Mr. Johnson formed Alaska Ship and Drydock (“ASD”) to operate the Ketchikan Shipyard under contract with the State of Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities in 1993. Working in conjunction with the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority (AIDEA), he guided an $80 million shipyard expansion project at ASD, including a new 2,500 ton dry-dock, upland ship berthing and an 80,000 square foot ship assembly hall and production support complex. He sold the company to Vigor Industrial in 2012, having grown it into a thriving enterprise with annual revenues of $35 million and up to 200 employees. In addition to Tyler and ASD, Mr. Johnson’s business operations and ownership experience includes such Southeast Alaska enterprises as Ty-Matt Construction and Ketchikan Ready Mix and Quarry. Mr. Johnson currently serves on the Board of Directors for Alaska Power and Telephone (AP&T) and has resided in Ketchikan, Alaska, for 40 years.
Amira V. Abouali
Director
Ms. Abouali has over 14 years of experience in the areas of corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, banking, corporate governance and corporate/commercial law. Currently, Ms. Abouali is the Vice-President, Legal of Meridian Credit Union Limited, the largest credit union in Ontario and the 2nd largest in Canada with over $28 billion of assets under management (AUM), over 365,000 client members and more than 1,950 employees. As a member of the senior leadership team, Ms. Abouali’s primary responsibilities include structuring and developing Meridian’s key strategic initiatives, capital investments, funding requirements, merger and acquisition transactions, new lines of business and its digital platform enhancement and modernization. Ms. Abouali also currently teaches Corporate Finance at the University of Windsor, Faculty of Law. Previously, Ms. Abouali was the General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of Jaguar Mining Inc., a publicly traded TSX company with mining operations in Brazil, and prior thereto was an associate in the business law group at Fasken Martineau DuMoulin LLP from 2008 – 2013. Ms. Abouali holds a Master of Laws degree (LL.M) in Business Law from Osgoode Hall, York University, a Bachelor of Laws degree (LL.B) from the University of Ottawa, and a Hons. Bachelor of Sciences degree in Biology (H.B.Sc – Biology) from Western University.
Advisory Board
Michael Barry
Advisory Board Member
Mr. Barry is the Chairman of the Board of Alaska Power and Telephone (AP&T). He is the former Chairman of the Alaska Import Development & Export Authority (AIDEA), the Alaska Energy Authority (AEA), and Co-Chair of the Taiwan Alaska Trade and Cooperation Council (TATCC). He served on the Executive Council of the Urban Land Institute and the Government Affairs Committee of the International Council of Shopping Centers, Board Member of the Anchorage Chamber of Commerce, and three terms as President of the Anchorage Community YMCA. As owner of Eagle Development Corporation, he participated in the development of hotels, office buildings, and retail centers in Alaska, including the state’s first regional mall, Anchorage 5 th Avenue, and the state’s first large mixed-use project, Dimond Center. Prior to this, he held multiple executive positions at the National Bank of Alaska (NBA), where he initiated a number of pioneering undertakings, including Alaska’s first trust investment department, first venture capital company, first commercial leasing operation, and first commercial real estate department. He joined NBA from the University of Washington with a major in Finance in 1963.
Jos De Smedt
Advisory Board Member
Mr. De Smedt is the Chief Financial Officer of VistaVu Solutions, a privately held technology and systems integrator company based in Calgary, Alberta with operations in both Canada and the US. Prior to joining VistaVu he held senior executive positions at Botaneco, a privately held biotechnology company, and CanAm Coal, a publicly traded coal production and development company. Mr. De Smedt started his career in 1985 as a Chartered Accountant in the Audit and Business Advisory Services Practice of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Brussels, Belgium and transferred to the Montreal, Canada office in 1992. In this capacity, he held senior manager responsibilities for major audit engagements and financial due diligence assignments. He became a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers Canada in 1998 and in 2000, he took over responsibility for the Travel & Transportation industry consulting practice for the Canadian Marketplace. In 2002, he joined IBM Canada and became a Business Consulting Partner/Executive where he continued to run the Travel & Transportation Industry practice. Mr. De Smedt holds a Bachelor of Commerce & Finance degree from VLEKHO University in Brussels, Belgium.
Frank Högel, MBA
Advisory Board Member
Mr. Hoegel has served as CEO at Peter Beck Performance Fonds GbR, bringing with him over 20 years of experience in the financial sector. He is an Asset Manager actively involved in the financial evaluation of companies and convertible debenture structuring. Mr. Hoegel has international financing experience, the ability to analyze expansion and acquisition opportunities, and expertise with Canadian and Australian resource companies. He has a broad base of involvement in global investments, primarily focused on the structuring, initiation, and completion of international convertible debenture financings. His background includes more than 20 years of direct experience in the mining industry, expertise as an international financier / investor and a successful track record as a consultant and stock broker in London, England. He serves on the Board of Directors of numerous public companies and is a Member of the Advisory Board of Concept Capital Management Ltd. He has a Master of Business Administration (FH) degree from a University in Germany, with a focus on Financial Management, Banking, and International Business & Management.