IBAT Technology is Reshaping the Future of Lithium Extraction

Dr. John Burba is a physical chemist and a world-renowned pioneer in lithium and other mineral extraction technologies. His more than 40-year career features a number of lithium brine projects in North and South America, notably with Dow Chemical Co., FMC Corp., and Chemtura Corp. Most recently, Dr. Burba served as CEO of Simbol materials, a company focused on the recovery of lithium from geothermal brines in Southern California. Under his leadership, Simbol successfully developed a proprietary process capable of producing low-cost, high-purity lithium products from brines that were previously believed to be too high in contaminants to be economically processed. Dr. Burba also recently served as CTO and Executive VP of Molycorp Inc., where he was instrumental in identifying and developing numerous rare earths technologies as part for the Project Phoenix re-development of the Mountain Pass facilities. Dr. Burba received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and completed doctoral studies in Physical Chemistry at Baylor University. He now serves as the founder and CEO of International Battery Metals.

Iris Jancik joined International Battery Metals Ltd in August 2024 as Chief Executive Officer. An engineer with extensive global contracting and management experience in the water resources sector, Jancik previously served as CEO of IDE Americas, a subsidiary of  for IDE Technologies, a global desalination and water treatment solutions company, where she was responsible for the development and operations of major infrastructure projects, including San Diego County Water Authority’s Carlsbad Desalination Plant in Carlsbad, Calif., as well as other municipal and Industrial water treatment plants. Jancik has more than 20 years’ global experience with the infrastructure and water industries in executive strategy, sales of engineered products, infrastructure project management, contract negotiation and management across several global regions. She holds an MBA in International Business from Texas A&M University and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Technion-Israel Institute of Technology.

Douglas Smith joined International Battery Metals Ltd in December 2023 as Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Smith brings to the Company a wealth of financial, accounting and tax experience. Prior to joining the Company, Mr. Smith was Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of Next Level Urgent Care from December 2021 to August 2023, and Chief Financial Officer of NCS Subsea, Inc. from February 2019 to December 2021. From September 2016 to February 2019, Mr. Smith worked as an independent consultant and was the lead independent board member of Sevan Drilling LTD from July 2017 to August 2018. Mr. Smith served as Chief Financial Officer of Vantage Drilling Company from September 2007 to September 2016. Mr. Smith began his career in the public accounting firm of Arthur Andersen LLP. Mr. Smith holds a Bachelors’ of Business Administration degree in Accounting and a Masters of Public Accounting degree both from the University of Texas at Austin.

Josh has over 20 years experience in water treatment for the Oil & Gas industry with specialization in produced water, wastewater treatment and flow back treatments from first stage through tertiary.  Participated/led installation and commissioning of 34 water treatment packages in 20 countries ranging from 10K BPD to 900K BPD, costing up to $40M, including worlds largest offshore float cell (HIGF).  T2 certified and winner of multiple corporate and industry awards, including Water to Sea Special Recognition Award.  Issued US Patent No. 10,239,771. 

Maria Echaveste brings with her a distinguished career that spans various senior leadership positions. She has held various positions within the United States of America White House, such as Deputy Chief of Staff, Policy Advisor and Special Representative to Boliva under the Clinton and Obama Administrations, directed programming and social policy at U.C. Berkeley, and co-founded a D.C.-based strategic and policy consulting group, NVG. Ms. Echaveste received a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from Stanford University and a Juris Doctorate from U.C. Berkeley. Currently, she serves as the President and the Chief Executive Officer of The Opportunity Institute, and is on the board of directors of UCSF-Benioff Oakland Children's Hospital, Mi Familia Vota, and the Level Playing Field Institute.

Foy Wyman Morgan is an established executive with in-house corporate and consulting experience in developing biopharmaceuticals, specialty chemicals, and minerals. Notably, Mr. Morgan worked Director of Technology for the FMC Corporation. In this role, he led the development and implementation of breakthrough technology in selective absorption, which produces lithium chloride from a lithium-bearing brine source in Argentina. The production facility which utilizes this technology has been in continuous operation since the late 1990’s, consistently and successfully producing low-cost, high-purity lithium chloride. Mr. Morgan holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Florence State College (University of North Alabama) and a Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Florida. Currently, Mr. Morgan serves as the President of Strategic Technology Resources, LLC, and Senior Vice President of Infinity Resources, LLC.

Rita Adiani brings with her significant capital raising, M&A and resource & energy transition technology integration experience. She has spent over 17 years in the resource industry spanning senior executive industry roles, private equity, investment banking and corporate law. She is currently Senior Vice President at Arizona Sonoran Copper Company (TSX listed) where she has been responsible for leading execution of the initial public offering and other corporate development and finance activities, including the recent proposed partnership with a technology company. During her career she has been responsible for and been involved in transactions raising over US$10 billion of capital globally.

She is admitted to practice as a solicitor of the Supreme Court of England & Wales (currently non-practicing) and practiced corporate law at Linklaters LLP in London and Dubai. She is a law graduate from the University of Oxford and University of Sheffield. She has a Chartered Financial Analyst qualification in ESG Investing from the CFA Institute and also has a Certificate in Mining Studies — Mining & Minerals Engineering from the University of British Columbia (Norman B. Keevil Institute of Mining Engineering). Currently she also serves on the boards of Brixton Metals Corporation, Vancouver (TSX-V).