Mr. Smith has over 43 years of experience in operating, developing, and financing mining and strategic materials projects in the Americas and abroad. In September 2013, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer ( CEO ) and a Director of NioCorp. From April 2015 to September 2019, Mr. Smith served as the President and Director for Largo Resources Ltd. ( Largo ), a mineral company with an operating property in Brazil and projects in Brazil and Canada. In addition, from April 2015 to October 2018, Mr. Smith also served as the CEO of Largo. Mr. Smith has also served on the board of directors of IBC Advanced Alloys Corp., a leading copper advanced alloys company ( IBC ), since May 2016 and as CEO of IBC since July 2020. From October 2008 through December 2012, Mr. Smith served as President, CEO and Director of Molycorp, Inc., a rare earths producer ( Molycorp ), where he was instrumentally involved in taking it from a private company to a publicly traded company with a producing mine. From November 2011 through May 2015, he served on the board of directors at Avanti Mining, a mining company (TSX-V: AVT; Avanti Mining changed its name to AlloyCorp in early 2015). From December 2012 through September 2013, he served as the Managing Director of KMSmith LLC, a business strategy and finance advisory firm, where he served as a consultant. Prior to Molycorp, Mr. Smith held numerous engineering, environmental, and legal positions within Unocal Corporation, a former petroleum explorer and marketer ( Unocal ), and later served as the President and CEO of Chevron Mining Inc., a coal and metal mining company and wholly owned subsidiary of Chevron Corporation ( Chevron Mining ). Mr. Smith also served for over seven years as the shareholder representative of Companhia Brasileira Metal rgica e Minera o, a private company that currently produces approximately 85% of the world supply of niobium. During his tenure with Chevron Mining, Mr. Smith was responsible for Chevron Mining s three coal mines, one molybdenum mine, a petroleum coke calcining operation and Molycorp s Mountain Pass mine. At Unocal, he served as the Vice-President from June 2000 to April 2006, and managed the real estate, remediation, mining and carbon divisions. Mr. Smith is a Registered Professional Engineer and serves as an active member of the State Bars of California and Colorado. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Agricultural Engineering from Colorado State University in 1981 and his Juris Doctor, cum laude, from Western State University, College of Law, in 1990. Mr. Smith s extensive leadership, management, strategic planning, and strategic materials industry expertise through his various leadership and directorship roles in public companies large and small makes him well-qualified to serve as a member of the Board of the Company.