Management & Directors

Martyn Element, Chairman of the Board, Director

Martyn Element is the founder and President of Element and Associates, which is primarily focused on sourcing and pursuing new business ventures globally. The group has attained a proven track record of successfully advising and marketing new business ventures. He has cultivated an extensive global network and developed strong working relationships with specialized funds and other related parties in conjunction with the various aspects required to market these opportunities. He developed his experience in the public financial markets in Canada, prior to forming Element and Associates in 1989. Before entering the financial markets, he was involved in the food and beverage industry in Canada and the United Kingdom. Martyn brings a genuine personal interest to each project, a skill set of identifying needs and developing strategic plans, as well as providing an extensive network of investment and financial contacts.

Phillip Thomas, President & CEO 

Phillip specialises in finance and capital raising, management of mining companies, planning, development and management of mining projects, having established a number of significant gold, lithium and iron ore exploration and mining projects in Mexico, USA, Chile, Argentina, Arizona and Australia. He joined the company in 2016 as COO and became CEO in 2018.

He is experienced at raising capital for mineral based projects around the world. He also has deep experience in geological exploration in the gold, copper, lithium brines and iron ore sectors. He was Exploration Director and CEO of Admiralty Resources from 2003-2008, CEO of Lithea Inc Pozuelos lithium project in Argentina 2009-2011, CEO and exploration director of Arrowstar Resources Ltd until 2016.

In gold projects he worked on the Nazca San Pedro mine, a gold porphyry mesothermal deposit in Peru in 2010, completed an extensive review in 2014 of the Secret Pass Tin Cup gold mine in Arizona USA where 127 drill holes had been completed. In 2016 Phil worked on IRL Limited’s massive gold mine in Peru with a stated JORC resource of 1.1 million ounces of gold at Indicated and Measured estimate. In 2017 Phil investigated the Julian Gold mine in California USA and wrote a NI43-101 compliant report for the vendors. From 2008 to 2018 Phil has reviewed and visited more than 15 gold mines in Peru, Arizona, Alaska and Papua New Guinea and has a substantial amount of research and exploration data.

In 2003 Phil explored and built the small scale lithium carbonate plant in Rincon Salar, Argentina, then 2009 as CEO of Lithea Inc explored the Pozuelos Salar, then in 2016 explored and drilled the Salinas Grandes, Pocitos and Guayatayoc salars, and explored the Incahuasi and Vilama salars. He is also a shareholder in Ekosolve Limited that provides Direct Lithium Extraction Technology using solvent exchange.

Phillip holds a Masters Business Marketing degree with high distinction from Monash University, a Bachelor of Science (Geology) degree and a Diploma in Finance. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Geoscientists, a Fellow of the Australasian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy and a certified Mineral Valuer with the Australasian Institute of Mineral Valuers and Appraisers.

Kiki Smith, CFO, Director

With over 20 years of experience, Kiki has been assisting private and public companies in the roles of accountant, corporate controller and chief financial officer in mining, oil and gas, real estate, high technology, food production, and investment fund management. She currently provides consulting services in mergers and acquisitions, financial reporting, and regulatory compliance to several public and private companies in the resource, food production and investment sectors. Kiki graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1989 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics. She is member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of British Columbia.

Anthony Balme FCA, Director

Anthony Balme is an active participant in a number of public and private resource ventures. In the private sector he is Chairman of Carter Capital Ltd., Lymington Underwriting (insurance) and Alton Resource Corporation. In the public sector, he is Chairman of Forum Energy Metals listed on the TSX and formerly of Ortac Resources on the listed on the AIM market. One of his focuses is identifying early stage opportunities in the resource sector and arranging financings to advance projects to the public markets in both the U.K. and Canada.