Corporate

Management

Anastasios (Tom) Drivas

CEO, DIRECTOR

Tom Drivas is a business entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in various industries, including over 20 years in the mineral resource industry and is also currently a Director of Romios Gold Resources Inc., a publicly traded company he founded in 1995.

Stephen Burega

PRESIDENT

The newest member of the Appia team, Stephen took over as President in January 2023. Stephen brings 16 years of management and operations experience in the mining and natural resources sectors including corporate development and fundraising; joint venture due diligence, structure and negotiations; and management of public markets.

His deep emerging markets background along with a strong understanding of stakeholder management, social development and structured community engagement and programming also positions him well to lead Appia’s First Nations community engagements. His additional 8 years of corporate communications and media relations coupled with extensive issues management and government relations experience are important assets to be leveraged as Appia builds towards the future.

Stephen is also President and CEO of Romios Gold Resources which focused on base and precious metal exploration in North America. 

Brian Crawford

CPA, CA

CFO

Brian Crawford CPA, CA has extensive experience as a financial executive. A graduate of the University of Toronto and a former partner with BDO Canada LLP, Brian co-founded and built several public companies currently listed on the TSXV and the CSE. Brian has extensive experience as CFO and as a director of private and public companies, and currently serves as CFO and Director of several public companies.

Andre Costa

FAIG, M.Sc.

VP EXPLORATION

Mr. Costa is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Geoscience (FAIG#7967). He holds a B.Sc. in Geology (1993) and a M.Sc. in Economic Geology (1996), both from the Federal University of BrasĂ­lia.

He has 29 years of work experience in mineral exploration for diamond, phosphate, potash, REE, copper, lithium, gold, and petroleum. He has also 9 years of work experience in diamond, uranium, potash, petroleum and gold exploration in Canada. He has participated and managed several exploration programs, from regional grassroots to feasibility studies. He has also 10 years’ work experience as a mineral exploration consultant. Mr. Costa has worked as Brazil’s Exploration Manager of Great Western Diamond and Brazil Potash ($120 Mi budget), and as a consultant for GE21, Mr. Costa oversaw and managed the exploratory auger drilling campaigns in Carina Module (Goias State) and SĂŁo Felix (Minas Gerais States) for Aclara Resources;. He also worked as Resident Geologist for the Saskatchewan Geological Survey in La Ronge – Saskatchewan.

Don Hains

P. Geo

Consulting Geologist, REE & Critical Minerals Advisor

President of Hains Engineering Company Limited. He is an industrial minerals exploration and economic geologist and marketing specialist with more than 40 years of experience in development, use and analysis of industrial minerals properties and materials.

Mr. Hains is an expert in the analysis of the geology, processing and markets for industrial minerals and the economics of production for industrial minerals. His experience encompasses most of the industrial minerals and specialty metals, including rare earths, lithium, tantalum, niobium, gallium, germanium, graphite, heavy minerals. Assignments have ranged from grass roots exploration to feasibility and market studies and valuation reports. He has conducted studies on a wide range of industrial minerals projects in Canada, the United States, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He is very familiar with trends in end use technologies for most major industrial minerals and specialty minerals, and in process technologies for beneficiation of industrial minerals and specialty metals. He is a Registered Professional Geoscientist (Registration Number 0494) in Ontario and a Professional Member of the Society of Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration (#4175075). He is a graduate of Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario (1974) and Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia (1976). Don is a frequent speaker at major industrial conferences, having presented papers on anorthosite, titanium mineral processing, lithium, and several other commodities.

Antonio Vitor

COUNTRY MANAGER, BRAZIL

Antonio is a senior executive holding a degree in Administration from Unyahna in 2004. He furthered his education by successfully completing an MBA in 2021 and maintains an active membership with IBGC (Brazilian Institute of Corporate Governance). 

Antonio possesses specialized expertise in compliance certification pertaining to financing, earning his certification from LEC in 2021. With a versatile background, Antonio Vitor has a track record as a portfolio manager and valued board member. His professional journey encompasses significant positions, notably as a Territory Manager at Shell, as well as Senior Project Planning and Consulting roles at PwC and Petrobras. 

Board of Directors

Anastasios (Tom) Drivas

CEO, DIRECTOR

Tom Drivas is a business entrepreneur with over 30 years of experience in various industries, including over 20 years in the mineral resource industry and is also currently a Director of Romios Gold Resources Inc., a publicly traded company he founded in 1995.

Frank van de Water

B. COM., CPA, CA

SECRETARY, DIRECTOR

Frank van de Water has been involved with international mining, metals and resource companies in North and Latin Americas, Europe and Africa for over 40 years.

Brian Robertson

B.Sc., P.ENG., GRAD. DIPL.

BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION & DIRECTOR

Mr. Robertson is a registered Professional Engineer (Ontario) with over 40 years of experience in the mineral resources industry and has served as an officer and director of a number of exploration and mining companies listed on the TSX and TSX Venture Exchanges. 

Mr. Robertson has extensive experience in the development and direction of exploration programs, project management, mine permitting, mine construction and development as well as mine operations and the evaluation of corporate acquisitions. He served as president of Victory Nickel Inc., Nuinsco Resources Ltd., and Mexican Gold Mining Corp., and is currently a director of Appia & Uranium Corp., Romios Gold Resources Inc. and Minnova Corp.

Thomas Skimming

B.Sc. GEOLOGY, P.GEO, P.ENG.

DIRECTOR

Thomas Skimming has been instrumental in the discovery and development of several mineral deposits including the world-class Teck-Corona gold deposit at (Hemlo) in Canada. He has over 50 years of experience in the mineral resources industry and he has served as an officer and/or director in a number of public exploration and mining companies.

Douglas H. Underhill

Ph.D., MBA, CPG

director

Dr. Underhill is an economic geologist with more than 45 years of international experience in the uranium industry at the commercial level including nearly 10 years with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna. 

His specialties range from world uranium geology and resource estimation through supply-demand analysis.  He has presented on these topics on five continents and has advised governments on uranium developments in the USA, Australia and China. He has also worked in the exploration and evaluation of Rare Earth Element projects for over 10 years. 

William Johnstone

L.L.B.

LEGAL COUNSEL & DIRECTOR

Bill Johnstone is a partner at Gardiner Roberts LLP, practicing corporate and securities law and is the Practice Leader of the firm’s Securities Law Group.  He is also a director and officer of numerous public companies.

Nick Bontis

Ph.D., B.A.

DIRECTOR

Nick Bontis is a tenured professor of strategic management at the DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University. He received both his Bachelor of Arts (Honours Business Administration, 1992) and his Ph.D. (1999) from the Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario.  He is also an Executive Board Member and Director at Harvest Portfolios Group.

Advisors & Consultants

Jack Lifton

REE & CritiCal Minerals ADVISOR

Jack Lifton is a consultant, author, and lecturer on the market fundamentals of technology metals. Technology metals is a term that he coined to describe strategic metals whose electronic properties make our technological society possible. These include the rare earths, the platinum group metals, lithium, graphite and most of the rare metals and materials. Jack is the leading rare earths expert in the US and he also advises the US Department of Energy as well as other companies.

Constantine Karayannopoulos

REE & Critical Minerals ADVISOR

Constantine Karayannopoulos, BASc, MASc, P.Eng., is a highly accomplished Professional Engineer who recently served as the President and CEO of Neo Performance Materials Inc. until July 2023 (NEO). NEO, a distinguished REE and critical minerals Canadian public company, benefited from Constantine’s 30 years of expertise including his leadership as COO (2000 – 2005), CEO (2005 to 2012), Chairman of the Board (2016 to 2020) and most recently again as CEO  from July 2020 to July 2023.

With an impressive career spanning over three decades, Constantine has emerged as one of the most enduring executives in the rare earth industry. His expertise extends to collaborating with various governments across Europe, North America, and Asia, aligning public policy and industrial economics for strategic growth.

Constantine’s journey in the Rare Earth sector began in 1994, working under the guidance of Peter V. Gundy, the founder of Advanced Material Resources Limited (“AMR”) in Toronto. AMR marked a historic milestone as the first foreign company granted access to China’s Rare Earth industry, establishing two majority-owned operating joint ventures. Constantine’s roles at AMR evolved from Business Development Manager to North American Sales Manager, Global Sales Manager/Chairman of the JVs, VP/General Manager of AMR’s Rare Earth Business Unit, COO overseeing AMR’s both Rare Earths and Magnetic Material divisions and eventually to CEO following the acquisition of Magnequench Inc. in 2005 and the renaming of the combined company to Neo Material Technologies. Neo was sold to Molycorp in 2012 for $1.3 billion.

Constantine is also the co-founder and was the non-executive Chairman of the Board of Neo Lithium Corp., a position he held from 2016 until January 2022 when the company was sold for $960 million.

In addition to his corporate responsibilities, Constantine is a member of the Advisory Board at the University of Toronto’s Department of Chemical Engineering and Applied Chemistry. He is also a Director of the Canada China Business Council and serves on the Advisory Board of Lithium Royalties Corp., a fund specializing in battery materials royalties and streams.

Constantine, leveraging his profound expertise in the sector, will provide invaluable services related to consultation on critical minerals through his consulting company, Kloni Inc., further enhancing Appia’s strategic positioning. The Company has granted 300,000 options exercisable at $0.275 per share for five years to Kloni Inc.

Dr. John Belhumer PhD.

SENIOR ADVISOR

Dr. Belhumeur has served as an advisor and consultant to Appia since March 2021. Dr. Belhumeur has spent over 30 years as a consultant for Aboriginal affairs about project development in the resource industry, coordinating between Aboriginal citizens, resource companies, and various levels of government. 

Dr. Belhumeur has worked on many projects, from the EIA process through to the construction and operation phases of a mine.

Coming from St. Lazare and Pine Creek, Manitoba, Dr. Belhumeur’s Cree /Ojibwa ancestry gives him first-hand knowledge of the Indigenous experience, lending a deeper understanding of issues facing Aboriginal people today, in society and in the workplace. Dr. Belhumeur believes in protecting the environment first and foremost, using Traditional, Ecological Knowledge and sustainable mineral development.

Dr. Belhumeur is the Founder and publisher of The Aboriginal Miner, in partnership with The Prospector Resource Investment News. He is an accomplished publisher, miner, and adviser to First Nations, Industry and Government and is well-known throughout the mining, forestry, and petroleum industries, and in resource development communities.

Dr. Belhumeur was one of the first publishers to endorse mining, hydro, oil & gas, alternative energy, and other resource development projects in Canada, believing that it would bring employment, training, and prosperity to Indigenous communities.

Gary Delaney

ADVISOR

Dr. Delaney has a B.Sc. in geology from Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario; a M.Sc. in geology from Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario; and a Ph. D. in geology from the University of Western Ontario. Between 1981 and 1985 Dr. Delaney, worked as a research geologist for Cominco Ltd. at the Sullivan Mine in Kimberley, British Columbia.

In the spring of 2022, Gary Delaney, Ph. D., P. Geo., retired as Chief Geologist, Saskatchewan Geological Survey (SGS), Ministry of the Energy and Resources, Government of Saskatchewan. The primary role of the SGS is to undertake geoscience research in support of the responsible exploration for and development of Saskatchewan’s mineral and energy resources.

 In 1986, he joined the SGS as a project geologist and undertook geological mapping and mineral deposit studies in the Precambrian Shield of northern Saskatchewan.

In 1998, Dr. Delaney became Director of Northern Geological Survey Branch of the SGS and in 2010, Chief Geologist. During his tenure with the SGS he has guided the delivery of various geoscience projects, that have profiled and informed the responsible exploration for and development of the Saskatchewan’s rich and diverse energy and mineral resources.  

As Chief Geologist of the SGS, Dr Delaney represented Saskatchewan on the National Geological Surveys Committee (NGSC) which is composed of the leadership of Geological Survey of Canada and the geological surveys of Canada’s Provinces, and Territories. The key role of the NGSC is the planning and delivery of a pan Canadian geoscience program.

During his time as Chief Geologist, Dr.  Delaney, who has fostered a strong relationship with mining and mineral exploration companies active in Saskatchewan, made several trips to Australia, China, Japan and South Korea to profile Saskatchewan’s mineral sector and the investment opportunities it offers.

Robert (Bob) MacGregor

P.ENG.

Uranium ADVISOR

Bob MacGregor has over 30 years of experience as a mining engineer and geological consultant, including 14 years working at Elliot Lake uranium mining camp. He has been involved in uranium leaching facilities, deep mining studies and was also involved in the development of a Yttrium oxide recovery process at Elliot Lake.

Alan D. MacEachern

B.Sc. GEOLOGY

CONSULTING GEOLOGIST

Alan MacEachern is the former chief geologist for Denison Mines Ltd. Elliot Lake, Ontario, and has 39 years of experience with all aspects of Elliot Lake geology.

Watts, Griffis and McOuat Limited

CONSULTANTS

An independent firm of consulting Professional Geologists and Engineers based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Since 1962, WGM has served the international mining community by completing projects in over 120 countries.

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