.png)
About Us
International Lithium Corp. (ILC) is a well funded and debt free Canadian-based lithium and rare metals resource exploration and development company with strategic interests in Canada, Zimbabwe and Ireland. In December 2023 ILC declared a Preliminary Economic Assessment (PEA) at its 48,500 hectare Raleigh Lake Lithium and rubidium project in Ontario. This showed an after-tax NPV of CAD$ 342.9 million, and an after-tax IRR of 44.3% p.a. This initial PEA covered only the 600 hectare area in Zone 1 of Raleigh Lake in which drilling has taken place, and did not yet take account of the rubidium which was declared as a separate resource in the March 2023 Maiden Resource Estimate.
Strategy
Strategically this is an ideal time for ILC to play an important role as the major countries in North America and Europe set their own strategy to reduce the world’s dependence on carbon products, and seek to reduce their own dependence on China for critical minerals and Russia for oil and gas as soon as possible.
As a Canadian company, ILC is fortunate that Canada itself is one of the world's most strategic resource countries. Additionally the political stability of Canada is seen internationally as a big advantage, as is the relative proximity of the Ontario lithium belt to the North American car industry in Windsor, Ontario or Detroit, Michigan. We have also chosen Zimbabwe as a strategically important foreign country. It has the sixth largest lithium reserves of any country, and looks set to be an important part in future of the European supply chain. We will look at a small number of other countries particularly in Europe and Africa. We are very conscious of the need for any company let alone a company of our size to remain focused, and we believe that financially we have very significant upside potential from our current projects. This has meant and will mean turning away some good opportunities in other countries even when there is undoubtedly potential there.
Our exploration is centred on lithium, but we have also become very interested in rubidium after finding significant amounts of it, and some caesium, at Raleigh Lake, Ontario.
In our current mining exploration projects except that in Ireland, we either have 100% ownership or a majority share or the ability to take a majority share plus management control. This is our preferred model. When projects are taken to the next stage requiring refining capacity, we are very open to discussing collaborative arrangements with other firms or in cooperation with government.
Corporate Presentation
Current Projects
The Company’s interests in various projects now consists of the following, whilst in addition the Company continues to look at other opportunities, primarily in Canada and Zimbabwe:
Partners
Ganfeng Lithium is our partner at Avalonia, Ireland.
Some History
International Lithium Corp. was founded in March 2009, and is headquartered in Vancouver, Canada. It went public on the TSX Venture Exchange in 2011 with ticker symbol TSX.V:ILC. It now also has tickers OTCQB:ILHMF and FRA:IAH.
Initially ILC’s major project was the Mariana project in Argentina, a major lithium brine project in Salta. The decision was made by the then board to joint venture this wholly owned project with Ganfeng Lithium in 2014, and from then on ILC only retained a 20% interest with the obligation to fund its share or to face dilution. At the same time the then board joint ventured the Avalonia project in Ireland with Ganfeng.
In 2018, following the appointment of a new board, ILC obtained 100% control of the Raleigh Lake project which had been joint ventured with Essential Metals Ltd, and in return ceded majority control of the Mavis Lake project to Essential Metals. The Mavis Lake project was later sold to Critical Resources Ltd, with completion taking place in early 2022. In 2021 the residual share of Mariana in Argentina (by then 8.58%) was sold to Ganfeng for USD 13.6m. At the same time ILC repaid an outstanding exploration loan of USD 3.6m from Ganfeng, leaving USD 10.0m net..
The resulting strong cash position resulting from the Mariana and Mavis Lake sales allowed ILC to expand its claims at Raleigh Lake to 48,500 hectares and to conduct significant drilling there with over 10,000 metres of drilling completed in 2022. It also allowed ILC to fund its initial investment in Zimbabwe and still to retain a strong cash position.
The company now has a presence in Canada, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Ireland and Zimbabwe, and exploration assets in Ontario Canada and Ireland.
Discover ILC Corporate and Board Information
Board and Senior Management
John Wisbey, Chairman and CEO
John joined the board of ILC in 2017. After a few months he became Deputy Chairman, and then Chairman and CEO in March 2018. He has personally invested significant funds in ILC since joining the board, and is now ILC’s largest shareholder. Under John’s leadership there has been a major turnround of ILC from a highly indebted company to a company with a strong net cash position, achieving 100% ownership of and then greatly expanding ILC’s Raleigh Lake lithium and rubidium claims in Ontario, which have now achieved the PEA stage, disposing of minority positions in Argentina and Ontario, and more recently leading a major focus on Zimbabwe.
John has had a career as a banker, then financial technology entrepreneur and more recently green energy entrepreneur. He holds various Chairman or Director roles in Switzerland and the UK, several with an interest in Africa. He previously founded two London AIM listed companies: IDOX plc, which provides software for UK Local Government, and now has a market cap of GBP 290m, and Lombard Risk Management plc (acquired by Vermeg for GBP 52m in 2018), which specializes in software for bank risk management and regulation. When he was a banker at Kleinwort Benson, he held various roles in the UK and Asia, including a Director in the Derivatives Group, Head of Options, and corporate lending. John has acted as a public company Chairman, CEO or Director for twenty two years. He is a graduate of Cambridge University.
Maurice Brooks, Director and Chief Financial Officer
Maurice joined the board of ILC in 2017. He is a licensed senior statutory auditor in the UK. Since 2000, he has been a senior partner in Johnson, Smith & Co., Chartered Accountants and Statutory Auditors in Staines, Surrey and before that, senior partner in Johnsons Chartered Accountants, Ealing London. His commercial and investment experience includes executive directorships in manufacturing and investment accountant to the superannuation fund of the Western Australian state government. His early professional employment included Ball Baker Leake and Price Waterhouse Coopers-UK. Maurice has announced his intention to retire from ILC in 2023.
Anthony Kovacs, Director and COO
Anthony joined ILC in 2012 as Chief Operating Officer and was appointed to the board in 2018. He was instrumental in managing the Mariana lithium brine project in Argentina until 2017 and other joint venture projects which ILC has now successfully monetized. Most recently he was the initial person to recognize the potential of the Raleigh Lake project in 2016, and after ILC bought its partner Essential Metals out in 2018 he then played the leading role in advancing it to the Maiden Resource Estimate and then PEA stage.
Anthony has over twenty-five years of experience in mineral exploration and development. Before joining ILC, he held senior management roles sourcing and advancing iron ore and industrial minerals projects, including the early stage work at the Lac Otelnuk Iron Ore project in Quebec, Canada and the Mustavaara Vanadium Mine in Finland. Prior to that Anthony worked for Anglo American, focusing on Ni-Cu-PGE and IOCG projects and was directly involved in several new discoveries internationally. Anthony has significant experience with industrial minerals, ferrous metals, non-ferrous metals and precious metals projects throughout the Americas, Europe, and Africa. He completed a B.A.Sc. in Geological Engineering at the University of British Columbia.
Ross Thompson, Non-executive Director
Ross joined the board of ILC in 2017 as a NED, and chairs the Audit and Compensation Committees. Ross is a speaker and expert in marketing behavioral science. In 1995, he founded Giftpoint Ltd., of which he is Chairman. Giftpoint is one of the largest specialist promotional merchandise businesses in the UK, with offices in London and Shanghai, China. Giftpoint’s clients include L’Oreal, Oracle, Ocado, Pernod Ricard and other well-known brands. For seven years Ross was President of IGC Global Promotions, one of the world’s oldest and largest global networks of premium resellers. He is an active investor in other businesses and has a special interest and understanding of the natural resources industry.
Geoffrey Baker, Non-executive Director
Geoff joined the board of ILC at the end of 2022, and is a member of the Audit Committee. He has a distinguished career in natural resource and finance industries. He is a director of Tim Trading Limited, a company offering consultancy services in the Oil and Gas industry. During his tenure as Manager of Insch Black Gold Funds, Mr. Baker received Investors Choice Swiss Fund Manager of the Year Award. He is a Co-Founder of a digital collectible non fungible token CryptoChronic and of Cannastore, a pilot E-commerce web site. Mr. Baker holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Windsor, Ontario.
Senior Management
Muhammad Memon, Corporate Secretary and Financial Controller
Muhammad became Corporate Secretary of ILC in 2021. He has over 10 years of experience in managing finance and compliance functions of public companies in various sectors including mining exploration, investment management, real estate, and technology. He assists companies with debt and equity financings, cash flow management and forecasting, legal and regulatory compliance, investor communications, stakeholder engagement and risk management. He is a member of the Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada and a fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants, United Kingdom.
Committees of the Board
Advisors
Auditors MNP LLP, Vancouver
Bankers Bank of Montreal, Vancouver and Royal Bank of Canada, Vancouver
Lawyers Cozen O’Connor, Vancouver
Registrar Computershare, Vancouver
Public Relations Yellow Jersey
Articles of Association
Corporate Social Responsibility
-
ILC is committed to corporate responsibility in every aspect of our business and throughout our operations worldwide.
-
As a responsible operator we are accountable to our employees, the communities with whom we work and the environment in which we operate. These responsibilities guide us in our efforts to understand and comply with all government and environmental laws and regulations.
-
Health and Safety are our primary concerns at all times. This applies to our people as well as the local communities in which we operate. While we have to uphold the law, we respect the freedom of choice of our staff to make medical decisions, such as vaccination, themselves.
-
All our employees and contractors are expected to conduct their work for ILC fairly and ethically, and in a manner that enhances our reputation.
-
Racial, gender and age discrimination have no part in ILC, as well as being illegal in many of the countries in which we operate.
-
We are all global citizens and we strive to meet and surpass all environmental regulations in the countries in which we operate.