IBAT Technology is Reshaping the Future of Lithium Extraction
IBAT is addressing a range of industry-wide issues with lithium extraction–environmental damage, slow time to market, and heavy capital costs–with one unique, all-encompassing solution: Modular Direct Lithium Extraction (MDLE) technology.
Meeting the Challenges of the Future, Today
With the world in very real danger of demand for lithium-ion batteries outpacing the supply of usable lithium, companies are springing up to meet the need. Unfortunately, many of them are moving ahead with operations utilizing traditional lithium extraction methods…and those create a number of problems for the environment, from chemicals leaking into groundwater to huge releases of pollutants into the air.
There are also ethical concerns related to these activities: In regions where water is already scarce, is consuming millions of gallons of it to make batteries the right thing to do? Is the health and well-being of local community members being taken into consideration?
IBAT was founded to be a better way to do lithium extraction. Our elegant solution to all of traditional lithium extraction’s problems is our Modular Direct Lithium Extraction (MDLE) technology.
MDLE is real-world proven to overcome the challenges of traditional lithium extraction, thanks to its…
- environmental advantages in emissions, resource conservation, and habitat protection
- high lithium recovery rate of up to 95%
- fast time to market, as little as 18 months; and
- low operating and capital costs.
Executive Team
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John Burba, Ph.D. Founder & Chief Technology Officer 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.
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Iris Jancik Chief Executive Officer 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.
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Douglas Smith Chief Financial Officer 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.
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Joshua Hebert VP of Field Operations 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.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
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John Burba, Ph.D. Founder & Chief Technology Officer 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.
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Tony Colletti BOARD DIRECTOR Tony Colletti is a government relations expert and business consultant in the US. Currently, he is the Chief Operating Officer of 3867 Partners, LLC, a private investment firm that specializes in the acquisition and turnaround of mid-size U.S. companies. He also leads Colletti & Associates, a national government relations consulting firm with 30 years of experience cultivating and implementing strategies related to public affairs, corporate leadership, and crisis management issues. Additionally, Mr. Colletti is a member of the Illinois and Florida Bar Associations. Previously, he was a member of the Board of Directors of Advance America, Cash Advance Centers, Inc. (NYSE: AEA) until its sale in 2011, and also served as a member’s representative to the Board of Managers of Sun Times Media Holdings, LLC—parent of the Chicago Sun Times newspaper—until its sale in 2011. Mr. Colletti earned a Bachelor of Science from Bradley University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Notre Dame Law School.
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William M. Webster, IV BOARD DIRECTOR William M. Webster is an American business leader and entrepreneur who has experience ranging from serving in the highest levels of government under the Bush and Clinton Administrations to sitting on corporate and not-for-profit boards. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in English and German from Washington & Lee University and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia School of Law. Currently, Mr. Webster is an Adjunct Professor of health care policy at Wofford College and serves on the Board of Directors of companies listed on both the New York Stock Exchange and NASDAQ.
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Daniel Layton BOARD DIRECTOR Daniel Layton is the group chairman CEO and founder of Ensorcia Group.
Mr Layton is an American-born industrialist who, in 2016 after 30+ years of investing, building, and operating, across many sectors, including energy, transportation and technology, felt it was time to focus on what he feels is the most important industrial revolution of our time, a transition to a responsible community conscious low carbon energy supply for the planet.
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Jacob Warnock BOARD DIRECTOR Jacob Warnock is the Founder & CEO of Silver Creek Resources, LLC, a company specializing in mineral and royalty acquisitions of high-growth oil and gas rights within top-tier U.S. basins. As CEO, he has overseen company operations and acquisitions in the Eagle Ford and Haynesville Shale since 2020. A serial entrepreneur, Warnock currently manages 18 companies and has over 20 years of experience establishing and overseeing numerous upstream oil and gas enterprises, along with multiple joint ventures across several US basins. Mr. Warnock’s expertise extends to leasing, curative, permitting, surface operations, facility construction, pipelines, negotiations and strategic exits.
Warnock formerly served as the Managing Partner of Delago Resources, LLC, a Texas-based upstream oil and gas company primarily focused on the acquisition and development of oil and gas reserves, until 2019 when he was instrumental in the sale of the asset to Marathon Oil for $185 million.
Advisory Board
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Maria Echaveste ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER 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.
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Foy Wyman Morgan, Ph.D. ADVISORY BOARD MEMBER 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.
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Rita Adiani Advisory Board Member 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).
Technology Developed by a Pioneering Lithium Extraction Expert
IBAT’s innovative system is the brainchild of physical chemist Dr. John Burba, aka “the Godfather of Lithium.” After starting his career in the 1980s at Dow Chemical working in lithium separation, Dr. Burba went on to amass dozens of patents in the field and to revolutionize lithium extraction in Argentina–one of the world’s largest sources of lithium–with a selective absorption process that is still in use there.
Dr. Burba’s founding of IBAT is the culmination of his experience and expertise in lithium extraction, garnered over a more than 40-year career.
The Greenest
DLE Technology on the Market
At IBAT, we are proud to be part of helping the world go green, not only by being a supply of lithium for batteries, but by the way we provide that lithium.
Our company was built with sustainability in mind, which is clear in the results our technology delivers:
98% process water recycled
Zero chemicals used
Minimal waste byproducts
Small environmental footprint
Compatible with solar power and other renewables
Partner with IBAT
If you’re interested in becoming an IBAT investor or an asset owner interested in bringing IBAT technology to your site, we’d love to speak with you.