Team

Mr. Shah, our Chief Executive Officer and a Director on our board of directors, is an experienced investment banker with over 18 years of global metals and mining advisory experience. From May 2011 to June 2021, he was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, where most recently he was managing director and head of EMEA Metals and Mining investment banking division for Goldman Sachs International, as well as manager for all analysts within the EMEA Natural Resources team. Prior to working at Goldman Sachs, Mr. Shah spent eight years at Citigroup Inc. in both London and New York in a similar role. Over his career, Mr. Shah has executed and advised on over $225 billion in M&A and financing transactions. Selected notable transactions on which he has advised include: (i) Acerinox, S.A. on its acquisition of VDM, a special metal alloy manufacturer; (ii) Anglo American PLC, on its sale of an equity stake in the Quellaveco Copper Project to Mitsubishi Corporation; (iii) Anglo American PLC, on the sale of its Niobium and Phosphates business for $1.5 billion to China Molybdenum Co. Ltd; (iv) Anglo American, on the sale of its Anglo Norte business, Mantos Copper; (v) BHP Group Ltd., on its proposal to combine with Rio Tinto Group; and (vi) ArcelorMittal S.A. on numerous M&A and financing transactions, including its recent $2 billion capital raise, its acquisition of Essar Steel India Private Limited as well as the merger between Mittal Steel and Arcelor. Through his experience, Mr. Shah has developed an extensive global network within the metals and mining industry across base, battery and ferrous metals as well as downstream steel. He holds a Bachelor of Science (Honors) in Business Mathematics and Statistics from the London School of Economics.

Mr. Boehlert, our Chief Financial Officer and a Director Nominee on our board of directors, is a senior natural resources and commodity executive with over 20 years of experience across a range of public and private companies. Most recently, from 2017 to 2019, Mr. Boehlert served as chief financial officer and executive vice president of Bunge Limited, a global agricultural and food company where he designed, managed and implemented the Global Competitiveness Program to improve business effectiveness and reduce costs and played a key role in guiding the company through M&A, leadership transitions, financings, and activist investor settlements to drive value creation. Prior to working at Bunge, Mr. Boehlert served as chief executive officer, president and director at First Nickel Inc., a private equity-backed base metal mining company, from 2011 to 2015, where he was instrumental in recruiting an experienced leadership team, advancing a mine from development into production and setting a clear operating strategy. Mr. Boehlert also served as chief financial officer and executive vice president of Kinross Gold Corporation from 2006 to 2011, during which time its market value grew from approximately $6 billion to $20 billion. He has also held chief financial officer roles with Texas Genco, Direct Energy LP and Sithe Energies, Inc. Earlier in his career, Mr. Boehlert created and led Credit Suisse Group’s EMEA infrastructure and project finance business. He has served as chair of each of the Audit Committee and the Compensation Committee of the board of directors of Arizona Sonoran Copper Company, Inc. since 2020. From September 2019 to February 2021, Mr. Boehlert served on the board of directors of TMAC Resources Inc. where he was chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Special Committee. He was also previously a member of the board of directors of Harry Winston Diamond Corp. Mr. Boehlert holds a Master’s of Business Administration degree from New York University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Indiana University and is a certified public accountant (inactive).

Mr. Dryland, an Advisory Board Member, is a global partner, executive vice chairman and global head of Rothschild & Co’s investment banking activities in the mining and metals sector. Over a 35-year career at Rothschild & Co, he has worked on a wide range of M&A and financing transactions in the mining, oil and gas, energy, utilities, and infrastructure sectors across the globe. In particular, he has advised on numerous acquisitions, divestments, joint ventures, and mine development financings in base metals involving many of the world’s largest copper producers and mines (including Andina, Los Bronces, Escondida, Collahuasi, Cerro Colorado, Los Pelambres, El Tesoro, Esperanza, Antucoya, Antamina, Centinela, Quebrada Blanca, Oyu Tolgoi and others). He has also worked on similar transactions involving other battery metals during his career. Mr. Dryland played an active role in the formation and operation of the Emerging Markets Gold Fund, one of the first mining industry focused private equity funds, and was later involved in the establishment and early years of operation of RCF. He also served as a Non-Executive Director on the board of directors of Antofagasta plc, the FTSE 100 copper mining company, from 2011 to 2016. Prior to joining Rothschild & Co, he practiced law focusing on M&A, debt and equity financing transactions with a focus on the natural resources sector. Before that, he worked at the World Bank advising emerging market governments on the promotion of private sector investment in the extractive industries. Mr. Dryland holds Master’s degrees in Business Administration and Comparative Law from the University of Warwick and George Washington University, respectively. He was born in the United Kingdom and presently lives in the United States.

Mr. Malchuk, a Director Nominee on our board of directors, is a seasoned global executive in the metals and mining sector with over 25 years of experience leading operations, business development and exploration activities as well as commercial transactions in more than 20 countries. Until December 2020 he served as president of Operations at BHP Group Ltd. with P&L accountability for all mineral businesses in the Americas region. This portfolio of assets and projects comprises more than 20,000 people, has revenues of more than $12 billion per year and annual capital expenditures in the order of $2.5 billion with operated and non-operated activities in Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, the United States and Canada. Prior to that, Mr. Malchuk had a long career with BHP holding a variety of strategic, commercial, and operational roles in Chile, Singapore, Australia, and the United States including his last eight years of experience as C-suite executive. Some of his prior roles were president of Aluminium, Manganese and Nickel, president of Global Mineral Explorations, and vice president of Strategy and Development Base Metals. Mr. Malchuk has had significant exposure to board dynamics, having served as a member and chair of boards in various JV companies in Australia, Africa, and the Americas, as well as of private entities and industry associations. Mr. Malchuk has also worked as an investment banker for Dresdner Kleinwort Benson covering the metals and mining sector. Mr. Malchuk holds an Industrial Engineering degree from University of Chile and a Master’s in Business Administration from the Anderson School at UCLA.

Ms. Grant Goodey, a Director Nominee on our board of directors, is a leading environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) professional with over 25 years of senior leadership and board level experience in social performance, governance, risk assessment, stakeholder engagement and external issues management across the oil and gas and mining industries. She is currently a managing director with Saltus Consulting Limited, where she leads ESG consulting projects for the extractive industry in Africa and Latin America, and is also practice lead at International Conflict and Security (INCAS) Consulting Ltd., where she focuses on human rights compliance and responsible sourcing for the extractive industry. Prior to these roles, Ms. Grant Goodey worked for over 17 years at BP PLC in a variety of roles including as head of societal issues and relationships from 2010 to 2015. In this position, she was responsible for leading the identification and management of social policy issues and stakeholder engagement. Ms. Grant Goodey serves as a member of the Advisory Board for Celicourt Communications, a leading communications consultancy based in London. Previously, she was a member of the board of directors of SolGold PLC, Amerisur Resources and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative as well as a member of the FTSE’s ESG Advisory Group. Earlier in her career, Ms. Grant Goodey held roles with Monitor Deloitte and BBC World Service and has volunteered for a number of human rights nonprofit organizations. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of London and a Diplôme d’études universitaires générales in History from the Sorbonne.

Mr. Baker, a Director Nominee on our board of directors, is an experienced corporate director and mining executive with over 40 years of experience in the mining industry. Mr. Baker served as chief operating officer of Kinross Gold Corporation, a senior gold mining company with operations in the USA, Chile, Brazil, Russia and West Africa, from 2006 to his retirement in 2010. Prior to that he worked for nearly 20 years for Placer Dome Inc. in Canada, Chile, Venezuela, the USA and Tanzania, culminating as Country Manager for Chile up to the time of Barrick Gold Corporation’s acquisition of Placer Dome Inc. He has subsequently acted as a corporate director for various mining companies. He has been the chairman of the board of Golden Star Resources Ltd. since January 2013 and has been a director of Triple Flag Precious Metals Corp. since May 2021 and director of Mag Silver Corp. since March 2021, for which he is a member of the Remuneration Committee. He served as a director of Sherritt International from May 2014 to May 2021, where he chaired the EHSS Committee, a director of Alio Gold Inc. (previously Rye Patch Gold Corp.) from December 2016 to May 2019, where he was a member of the Remuneration Committee, and a director of Antofagasta PLC from March 2011 to May 2020, where he served as chair of the Remuneration Committee. Mr. Baker has a Bachelor of Science degree with Honors in Geology from Edinburgh University.