Carl Esprey’s long and varied career within the natural resource investment and development sector began at Deloitte before he moved to BHP Billiton as an M&A analyst. Carl moved into equity investment as a fund manager at GLG Partners in London in 2008, focused on natural resources investments. Carl is also the founder/chairman of a Portugal headquartered legal cannabis business, director of London listed Contango Holdings Plc and CEO of Waraba Gold Limited, a CSE, Frankfurt and OTC exploration company. Carl established Lithium Africa Resources Corp. in 2021 and since that time has used his experience and network to secure a wide range of prospective lithium assets across Africa.

Dr. Tom Benson is Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Lithium Africa. A volcanologist and globally recognized lithium exploration geologist, he previously served as Vice President of Global Exploration at Lithium Argentina and earlier at Lithium Americas. In those roles, he led corporate exploration strategy to define some of the largest lithium deposits in the world — including Caucharí-Olaroz and Thacker Pass, now the largest measured lithium resource on the planet. Dr. Benson has served as a Director and Geological Advisor of Lithium Africa since 2023, bringing deep technical expertise in lithium deposit exploration and portfolio growth to his leadership of the Company. He holds a Ph.D. from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in Earth and Planetary Sciences from Harvard University.

Blake Hylands is a veteran explorationist and is currently CEO and founder of Lithium Ionic where he co-discovered of multiple Li deposits in Brazil. Prior to Lithium Ionic, he led the discovery of >8Moz gold equivalent at Troilus Gold Corp.

Mamadou Coulibaly is a veteran geologist with over 15 years of experience in mineral exploration. He started working with Randgold and has since collaborated with various academic institutions, including Kingston University and the University of Western Australia, developing extensive knowledge and experience in the geology of the West African Birimian. 

Robert Eckford is the CEO of Rua Gold and co-founder of Aris Mining, the largest gold producer in Colombia. He is a veteran audit/finance exec.

Toluwalase Seriki is currently the Head of Business Development in Ganfeng Lithium’s Africa division. He has 4 years of experience in the industry and began his journey by establishing an exploration company in Nigeria. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics and Philosophy from the University College, London and is completing an MSc in Energy Studies at the University of Dundee.

Tyron Breytenbach is a Co-founder and Capital Markets Advisor of Lithium Africa. A geologist and capital markets professional, he spent a decade in the mining industry — specializing in resource estimation at Detour Gold — before moving into international equity research at Cormark Securities and Stifel Canada. He has co-founded multiple resource companies, including Lithium Africa and Roxmore Resources, and serves as a director of Rua Gold. He holds a BSc (Honours) from Rand Afrikaans University (now the University of Johannesburg) and is a designated P.Geo in Ontario.