Our Commitments
Environment, Social & Governance
Company-wide, we understand that every interaction and every decision we make has an impact both close and far-reaching. These commitments are sincerely important to us and support our sustainable growth as we maintain our place in society.
MEET THE TEAM
Embarking on the new frontier.
Frontier Lithium is led by a strong management team and directors with approximately 30% ownership
and decades of experience in resource extraction, refining and capital markets. With its world-class lithium asset, the company has attracted highly knowledgeable team members with key experience in the lithium mining sector.
Board of Directors
Reginald F. (Rick) Walker,
Chairman of the Board
Rick Walker has been the owner/operator of Consbec Inc. since 1975. Consbec is the largest surface drilling and blasting contractor in North America and the only private Canadian company who manufactures and transports bulk explosives. Mr. Walker has extensive experience in open pit mining, quarry and construction. Mr. Walker’s open pit experience involves pit design, government regulatory requirements, high tonnage production, dilution, wall and drainage control. Mr. Walker is a member of the International Society of Explosive Engineers and the Canadian Institute of Mining and Metallurgy. The Walker family maintains approximately 20% of the outstanding shares of Frontier Lithium.
Stephen J.J. Letwin,
Director
Mr. Letwin is a Director of Hess Midstream and of Margaux Resources and also is the President and CEO of Mancal Corporation. Mr. Letwin was President and CEO of IAMGOLD Corporation for ten years and was also a member of their Board of Directors. Prior to joining IAMGOLD, Mr. Letwin was previously with Enbridge Inc. in Houston, Texas, as Executive Vice President, Gas Transportation & International. Before Enbridge, he was President & CEO of TransCanada Energy and CFO of TransCanada Pipelines, Numac (Westcoast Energy), and Encor Energy. Mr. Letwin holds an MBA from the University of Windsor, is a Certified General Accountant, a graduate of McMaster University (B.Sc., Honours), and a graduate of the Harvard Advanced Management Program.
Chief Bart Meekis
Director
Bart Meekis is a member of the Oji-Cree First Nation of northwestern Ontario and resides in Sandy Lake, Ontario. Mr. Meekis previously served 16 years on the Sandy Lake First Nation council, including 4 years as Deputy Chief and 6 years as Chief. On council and as Chief, Mr. Meekis worked to improve communications and public relations, stabilize finance, and strengthen human resources. As Chief he worked on building partnerships to improve community infrastructure and housing, and essential power and road initiatives in the region.
Board of Directors
Greg Mills
Director
Mr. Mills, has 36 years of experience in capital markets, having served 20 years at RBC Dominion Securities Inc as managing director of RBC Capital Markets’ Global Equities division and on RBC Capital Markets’ Operating and Global Risk committees and previously was a director of RBC USA Holdco Corporation. Mr. Mills holds a Bachelor of Science in Geology from the University of Windsor and currently is the Chairman of the Board of Sundial Growers Inc., a director of Aequitas Innovations and the capital markets advisor to Portag3 Ventures.
Board of Directors
Mike Koziol, P.Geo, P. Eng
Director
Mr. Koziol serves as the President and Director of Alto Ventures Ltd. and resides in Sudbury, Ontario. Mr. Koziol is a geologist with over 35 years of experience exploring for gold and base metals in the Canadian Shield. He played key roles in a number of gold and base metals discoveries during his career with Saskatchewan Mining Development Corporation and Cameco Gold Inc., including the McIlvenna Bay Copper-Zinc deposit, Saskatchewan, and the Comtois and Destiny gold deposits in Quebec. Mr. Koziol graduated with a BSc degree in Geological Sciences from McGill University in 1978 and holds a number of professional and technical memberships including the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario (P. Geo.), and the Association of Professional Engineers of Ontario (P. Eng.). Mr Koziol also is a member of the Prospectors and Developers Association of Canada.
Bruce C. Barker LL.B.
Director
Mr. Barker is a Partner of Bennett Jones LLP, a leading Canadian law firm. Mr. Barker practices corporate law, with an emphasis on mergers and acquisitions, banking and corporate finance, and recently co-chaired the firm’s Corporate Department. Mr. Barker has represented institutional lenders and investors of all types, including the major Canadian banks, many of the United States and European money center banks, bond holders, hedge funds and a global American financial services company. Lexpert included him among the Top 100 Creative Lawyers in Canada. Mr. Barker is a member of the advisory council of the Morissette Institute for Entrepreneurship, Richard Ivey School of Business. He is a past member of the editorial board of the Banking and Finance Law Journal and was an instructor in the Master of Laws program at Osgoode Hall Law School where he taught international banking and finance law.
John R. Didone,CPA, CA, CMA, LPA, HBCOMM
Director
Mr. Didone is a Partner at SRWC LLP, Chartered Professional Accountants based out of Sudbury, Canada. He has been with the firm since 1980 and over this time has gained considerable insight of business affairs, in particular his demonstrated experience offering professional advice on the expansion of national companies. Mr. Didone is in touch with the Frontier’s strategic goals, our staged growth strategy and he has experience working with mining and construction sectors. He graduated from Laurentian University’s Commerce program earning an H.B.Com and maintains designations and/or certifications as a CPA, CA, CMA, and LPA.
Board of Directors
Advisory Board Members
With its world-class lithium asset, the company has attracted highly knowledgeable team members with key experience in the lithium mining and chemicals sector.
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Peter Vanstone, P. Geo
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Michael Tamlin
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Robert J. McLean, CHRP
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Gordon MacKay
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Ernest (Ernie) Marcotte, P. Eng, FCIM
Executive Leadership Team
Trevor R. Walker, MBA
President & Chief Executive Officer
Trevor R. Walker is the President and CEO of Frontier Lithium. Walker joined Frontier Lithium in 2010, and since then he has played a key strategic role in focusing the company on its PAK Lithium deposit in Northwestern Ontario. Under his leadership he has increased the company’s overall readiness to develop its world-class lithium deposit, advanced global-minded marketing activities, and bridged partnerships to bring Canada’s newest lithium mine project on line. Prior to joining the company, Walker was Vice President of the Consbec Group of Companies where he accumulated 10 years of experience in mining and construction industry. During his tenure at Consbec, he worked closely with companies such as GoldCorp, Rio Tinto, Westdome, Barrick, Noranda, Agrium and Unimin as well as other major companies. Walker holds an honours BA from the University of Western Ontario, and an MBA from Webster University Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr. Naizhen Cao
Vice President Technology
Dr. Cao is an industry veteran having worked both in China and Canada as senior technical leader with expertise in lithium and battery materials. During his career, he held several key positions within the lithium industry including: Chief Scientist at Tianqi Lithium, a global lithium producer, where he managed the Technical Division and established the Key Lab of Lithium resources and led key project on lithium materials production. Most recently Dr. Cao was Chief Technology Officer for a subsidiary of CATL, where he participated in all aspects of lithium mining and concentrate production. Mr. Cao published more than 50 scientific papers and filed more than 60 patents with particular proficiency in battery materials with specific focus on lithium chemicals and metal/alloys. Dr. Cao holds a Ph.D., from Tsinghua University, China, in Materials Science and engineering and held a Postdoc at Laval University, Canada in Chemical Engineering.
Garth Drever, P.Eng, P.Geo,
Vice President, Exploration
Garth Drever is a geologist with over 35 years of mineral exploration experience primarily with Cameco Corporation. He specializes in innovative technologies for detecting ore bodies and has worked on many uranium deposits worldwide. His past experience as an exploration geologist has included positions as Senior Geologist, District Geologist for Cameco Corporation. Drever began his career with the Geological Survey of Saskatchewan managing geochemical and geophysical programs exploring for uranium in Northern Saskatchewan. From 2001 to 2007, he played a key role in the development of Cameco’s global exploration portfolio with experience in the USA, Australia, Africa, Asia, and Europe. More recently he worked as exploration manager for Uravan Minerals, and as VP of Raven Minerals Corp., a private uranium exploration company. He holds a B.Sc in geology from the University of Regina and is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Saskatchewan, and the Association of Professional Geoscientists of Ontario.
Bora Ugurgel, MBA
Manager, Investor Relations + Communications
Bora Ugurgel has been working in the mining research and service and supply industry since 2009. Most recently, he was the Managing Director of the Ultra-Deep Mining Network (UDMN) and the Chief Operating Officer for the Centre for Excellence in Mining Innovation. Bora has significant experience in the financial and technical needs of a start-up business and has developed close collaborations with all stakeholders including mining companies, government and innovators from the private and public sectors. He holds an MBA from Laurentian University and is the recipient of the CIM-Bedford Canadian Young Mining Leaders Award. Bora now manages investor relations and communications for Frontier Lithium.
Associations
Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada
Ontario Prospectors Association
Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy & Petroleum
Northeastern Ontario Prospectors Association
Safety
We are aware that there is no greater focus than the safety and health of each and every person who supports our operations. Our commitment is very clear - no harm means no incidents, no injuries and no fatalities. We endeavour to create a safe work environment that centres around preventing catastrophic incidents and reduces injuries. Our focus is to identify and minimize any risks that may affect the health and safety of our people.
Environmental
We are responsible stewards to the land, air, water and biodiversity of the areas from which we are extracting our natural resources from. Through environmentally friendly ways we will operate our business in order to minimize any potential to harm our natural surroundings. We understand that our planet is precious. As we grow operationally our focus is to have no adverse environmental impacts and to achieve this we will undertake a range of active programmes for environmental management. We understand the only way to do this is to work closely and collaboratively with local communities and other stakeholders including customers, suppliers, investors, regulators, industry members and the public.
Community
We are committed to diversity and treating everyone with respect. Together, we listen to each other and collaborate so that we may build sincere relationships with our neighbours in communities we operate in. We have an active interest and respect for Indigenous Peoples that surround our operations by understanding the social, environmental and economic implications of our activities. Our focus is to maximize the benefits and minimize any negative impacts.
One of the most important parts of the responsible resource development is establishing meaningful relationships with the communities that surround the project. At the exploration stage, exploration agreements are signed as a way to create a protocol between a community and an exploration company and to define principles for working together. Frontier Lithium was proud to sign exploration agreements with Sandy Lake First Nation and Deer Lake First Nation in October 2016, with North Spirit Lake First Nation in June 2017, and with Keewaywin First Nation in 2019. Together we are working towards the mining development stage to enable provisions for employment and training, business opportunities through contracts and joint ventures, social and cultural considerations, funding arrangements, and other provisions during commercial scale mining operations.
Over the last few years we have supported initiatives taken on by local community members, sponsoring local events and purchasing equipment for the Deer Lake Bolts hockey team and musical instruments for use by North Spirit Lake First Nation. We believe in the power of creating music, the comradery in sport and most importantly building opportunities for youth.
Always Moving Forward “Next Generation” Scholarship
This scholarship was specifically designed to recognize and support young members of the four (4) communities of Sandy Lake First Nation, North Spirit Lake First Nation, Deer Lake First Nation and Keewaywin First Nation. Together, we all share the common goal of creating a better tomorrow.
Research & Innovation
We are a part of a global laboratory of research and innovation and are open to collaboration and discovery in an endeavour to do good. Our elements will ultimately be used in various ways and we understand their versatility. We strongly support new processes to apply our products and welcome opportunities for new and safe innovations that will benefit mankind.
External Teams
Solicitors
McCarthy Tetrault LLP
421 – 7th Avenue SW, Suite 3300
Calgary, Alberta
T2P 4K9
Auditor
S & W LLP - Chartered Professional Accountants
91 Skyward Avenue, Suite 105
Toronto, Ontario
M9W 6R5
Transfer Agent
Odyssey Trust Company
1230 – 300 5th Ave SW
Calgary, Alberta
T2P 3C4