Michael Kobler

CEO & Director

Over the past 35 years, Michael Kobler has specialized in identifying, acquiring, developing and producing natural resource opportunities throughout the world as well as overseeing the design and construction of a number of infrastructure projects. He has served in a variety of roles for early stage companies including, Chairman, Chief Executive Officer, President, Technical Advisor, Engineer and Project Manager, and has been a founder and a major shareholder in a number of these ventures. Mr. Kobler has a strong record of success in the exploration, permitting and de-risking of resource projects. His expertise in identifying opportunities through detailed examination of all available information combined with his in-depth knowledge of permitting processes, including detailed environmental work, and dealing with issues related to water supply have positioned him for projects across North and South America.

Mr. Kobler has been involved with exploration and mine planning projects at El Pauji in Venezuela as well as mine planning and development projects for HW Mining at La Serena and El Teniente in Chile. In North America, he was involved in developing the mine at the Sacaton Shaft in Casa Grande, Arizona and helped develop the Amethyst Mine at Creede, Colorado for HW Mining. In 2005, Mr. Kobler was a Co-Founder and the original CEO of Osum Oil Sands Corp. (“Osum”) where he oversaw the analysis and acquisitions of the original oil sands leases that form the core of Osum’s projects at Cold Lake and the Saleski carbonates, both in Alberta. During his tenure with Osum, Mike oversaw the growth of the company from start-up to a valuation approaching $500 million; he also hired his successors to ensure the smooth transition of the Company to its next phase of growth and an equity value approaching $2 Billion.

Alan Abrams

B.Sc. , Director

Mr. Abrams brings over 35 years of experience managing personnel, projects, and operations within the natural resources and infrastructure industries, both domestic and international. He has a proven history of creating management teams, establishing strategic alliances and joint venture partners, risk management, contractual negotiations, attentive budget management, and overall profitability. Mr. Abrams has managed over $1 billion of infrastructure construction including mass transit, hydroelectric, wastewater, and strategic defense as well as multiple mine development projects in North and South America. He has extensive experience in underground mining in Nevada including shaft sinking and mine development projects at the Newmont Leeville gold mine and the Pumpkin Hollow Shaft copper project where extensive drilling and grouting operations were performed to control groundwater inflows. He has also worked in several underground salt and dolomite mines including the Whiskey Island salt mine in Cleveland. He is currently President of Subterra Solutions, Inc., an international consulting firm and is Vice-President of the Underground Division for Atkinson Construction Company. Mr. Abrams holds a B.Sc. in Mining Engineering from the Montana College of Mineral Science and Technology.

Andrew Squires

B.Sc., Director

Mr. Squires brings over three decades of resource development experience in the energy and natural resources industries both domestic and international. In this time, he has established a proven history of success in creating strong management teams and helping grow new resource ventures into prosperous operations. His entrepreneurial spirit combined with his all-encompassing technical, operational, and financial knowledge on the logistics and complexity in this sector are the talents that have led to his success in helping create and monetize value in the resource development sector. Of recent note, Mr. Squires was part of the original executive team of Osum Oil Sands Corp., a successful junior oil sands company, in which he was instrumental in creating the team and helping raise over $1 Billion in private equity taking the company to commercial production. Prior to starting Osum Oil Sands, Mr. Squires worked for his own consulting firm providing services for clients including Exxon, Pemex, PetroCanada and Chevron. Mr. Squires' engineering and management skills were honed working for companies such as Dominion Exploration, Paramount Resources and Amoco. Mr. Squires is currently an executive advisor for Osum Oil Sands Corp., President of AXS Industries - a global energy investment advisory firm, a Senior Associate of Renown AMG (upstream energy asset management company), and is actively engaged in a number of start-ups and financings in the energy storage, oilfield equipment, and aerospace fields. Mr. Squires holds a B.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alberta.

Dana Brock

P.E., R.G., C.E.G. , Vice President

Dana Brock, P.E., R.G., C.E.G. , Vice President
Dana Brock is a field oriented Civil Engineer, Geologist and Engineering Geologist. For over 30 years, he has performed and directed investigations, designed facilities and supported large scale construction and remediation projects. His experience spans a broad range of projects in the U.S. and ten other countries, including facilities development for geothermal well fields (Calpine, Unocal Geothermal, Kiewit, CalEnergy, Coso Operators); exploration, drilling and resource management for low temperature and mineralized waters (Sonoma Mission Inn, City of Calistoga and 29 Palms, Crystal Geyser and Mendocino Mineral Water); private and municipal water supply, distribution, impoundment and disposal (Cities of San Francisco, Santa Rosa, and Burlingame, Kendall-Jackson Wines and DeLoach Wines); basin management and due diligence and technical support for legal issues involving geothermal and oil well fields, mineral prospects and underground construction (Deutsche Bank, Florida Power and Light, Mission Energy, Gordon & Rees and Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority).

Dr. David H. Swan

Advisory Board

Dr. Swan has more than 30 years’ professional experience in clean and efficient energy conversion and storage systems, specializing in the design and application of lithium battery technology for automotive and aerospace applications. Dr. Swan is internationally-recognized for his research, development and commercialization of advanced energy storage systems. He has consulted to all major global automotive and supplier companies including BMW, Toyota, Honda, Chrysler, Daimler, General Motors and Ballard Power Systems. In 2006, the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”) appointed Dr. Swan to its Zero Emission Vehicle (“ZEV”) Expert Review Panel where he conducted site visits, confidential technology evaluations and extensive interviews with all leading technology developers and every major automobile manufacturer. From 1995-2000, Dr. Swan held the position of Chief Scientist at AeroVironment Inc. (NASDAQ: AVAV), a Monrovia, California-based advanced technology company that designs, produces and supports electric transportation solutions as well as unmanned aircraft systems for the U.S. Department of Defense. Dr. Swan was responsible for all energy storage activities including development and testing of battery systems for electric and hybrid vehicles including all aspects of General Motors’ hybrid vehicle battery program, and development of fuel cell and hydrogen storage systems for AeroVironment’s solar-powered aircraft.

Dr. Swan was appointed to the Technical Committee of the U.S. government-industry R&D initiative, Partnership for New Generation of Vehicle, a cooperative research program between the U.S. Government and U.S. Council for Automotive Research (USCAR) comprised of DaimlerChrysler, Ford Motor Company and General Motors. He was also appointed to the California South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) Locomotive Propulsion Task Force. Dr. Swan holds a Ph.D. in Engineering Mechanics from the Texas A&M University; a Master of Science in Engineering from the University of New Brunswick; and Bachelors’ degrees in Engineering, Science and Mathematics from Dalhousie University, Nova Scotia. Dr. Swan has been awarded 7 patents in his field with others pending, is the author of over 40 published papers on fluid mechanics, applied electrochemistry and electric vehicle technology, and has contributed to numerous text books.

Dr. John S. Oldow

Ph.D. , Technical Consultant

Dr. Oldow, Director of the Ellison Miles Center for Geological Field Studies at the University of Texas, Dallas, was retained as Technical Consultant to the Company effective June 1, 2016. Dr. Oldow’s will advance his regional geophysical work in the Fish Lake Valley, to develop a geological model of the Company’s 18,552 acre lithium brine project. Dr. Oldow’s work includes geologic mapping and the application of structural and stratigraphic analysis, along with potential field geophysics, GPS geodesy and terrestrial laser scanning to advance understanding of regional tectonics. Dr. Oldow’s past geophysical work in Fish Lake Valley, including a detailed gravity survey which defined historical gravity lows in both the North and South Bowl Playas, as deep sub-basins, was instrumental in directing the acquisition of the Company’s South Bowl Playa property and optimizing our current 13 hole drill program in the North Bowl Playa.