Anthony Milewski
CEO
Mr. Milewski has spent his career in various aspects of the mining industry, including as a company director, advisor, founder and investor. In particular, he has been active in the battery metals industry including investing in cobalt and actively trading physical cobalt. In 2016, one of the industry’s leading publications, “The Mining Journal,” named him as a Future Mining Leader.
In 2017, Anthony accepted an invitation from the London Metals Exchange to join the LME Cobalt Committee which includes representatives from the largest mining and commodities companies globally to represent the interests of the industry to the board of directors the LME.
Mr. Milewski has managed numerous mining investments at various stages of development, including exploration, development, production and turnaround situations, and across a broad range of commodities. With the June 2018 close of Nickel 28’s A$10 million equity investment in Highlands Pacific for resulting ownership of 13%, Mr. Milewski was appointed to the Board of Directors of Highlands Pacific. He has also served as a director of both public and private companies and has been seconded as interim CEO on multiple occasions. Mr. Milewski was a member of the investment team at Pala Investments Limited. Prior to joining Pala Investments, he worked at Firebird Management LLC.
Mr. Milewski previously worked at Renaissance Capital and Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP in Moscow, where he focused on advisory and transactional work in metals & mining and oil & gas sectors. He has lived and worked in Africa and Russia, including a year as a Fulbright scholar, and has spent considerable time in Central Asia.
Mr. Milewski holds a B.A. in Russian history from Brigham Young University, an M.A. in Russian and Central Asian Studies from the University of Washington, and a J.D. from the University of Washington. He holds an LLM from the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Justin Cochrane
President
Mr. Cochrane, President of Nickel 28, has 20 years of royalty and stream financing, M&A and corporate finance experience. Prior to Nickel 28, he served as President & COO of Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. and before that as Executive Vice President and Head of Corporate Development for Sandstorm Gold Ltd. Mr. Cochrane’s expertise is in the structuring, negotiation, execution and funding of royalty and stream financing contracts around the world, across dozens of projects, totalling over $2 billion.
Prior to Sandstorm, he spent nine years in investment banking and equity capital markets with National Bank Financial where he covered the resource, clean-tech and energy technology sectors. In addition, Mr. Cochrane is currently a board member of Nevada Copper Corp.
Mr. Cochrane is a Chartered Financial Analyst and a registered and licensed security advisor in Canada.
Martin Vydra
EVP, Strategy
Martin Vydra joined Nickel 28 after a 31 year career with Sherritt International Corporation, a leader in the mining, processing and refining of lateritic nickel and cobalt with operations in Canada, Cuba and Madagascar. Martin is widely recognized as an expert in nickel and cobalt extraction, processing and refining including the development and application of advanced technologies to maximize the recovery of valuable metals such as nickel and cobalt from a variety of feeds. While at Sherritt, Martin’s technical accomplishments spanned four continents and over 20 operations including postings in Australia where he was integrated in Murrin Murrin’s refinery start up; Finland for the design of Harjavalta’s nickel reduction circuit; and, in Chile where he oversaw the design, construction and commissioning of a major pressure oxidation operation.
From 2012 to 2017, Martin held the position of Senior Vice-President of Metals, where he successfully guided the division through one of the most challenging periods in the commodities cycle, while delivering production at near to bottom quartile costs. Martin played a key role in the assessment of Cuba’s operations at Moa Bay, which resulted in the formation of Sherritt’s Moa Joint Venture. From 2005 to 2007, Martin was responsible for engineering, maintenance and capital construction at Sherritt’s nickel refinery and was considered one of Sherritt’s top technical experts across global operations. Most recently, Martin served as Sherritt’s Senior Vice President, Commercial and Technologies, where he had oversight for the sales and marketing of nickel and cobalt, and marketing and commercialization of Sherritt’s proprietary technologies. Martin was instrumental in gaining access to numerous markets culminating with large-scale commercial plants built in China (zinc processing and coinage), Australia (HPAL), and in South America (pressure oxidation of sulphide ores).
In addition to his technical expertise, from 2008-2011, Martin held the position of Managing Director, Commercial Contracts and Marketing, with global responsibility for metal marketing which included finished products from Sherritt’s Ambatovy and Moa joint ventures. Over his career, Martin has been responsible for the sales and marketing of cobalt, nickel, fine cobalt powders and chemicals, thermal spray powders and coinage with end users ranging from aerospace to lithium-ion battery manufacturers.
Conor Kearns
CFO
Conor Kearns has nearly a two decades of accounting, auditing, finance, and tax experience providing advisory services to a wide array of businesses. Most recently as Vice President of Finance of Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. Prior to joining Cobalt 27, Mr. Kearns was the Chief Financial Officer of EFT Canada Inc. (TSXV: EFTC), a fintech company which provides advanced electronic payment services and tools for businesses.
Craig Lennon – CA, AGIA
Head of Asia Pacific
Craig Lennon is the Head of Asia Pacific for Cobalt 27 Capital Corp. a leading battery metals investment vehicle listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Craig was previously the Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of ASX Listed Highlands Pacific Limited from 2016 to 2019 and prior to that Chief Financial Officer at Highlands for 9 years and with the company for 19 years in total. Highlands was taken over by Cobalt 27 in May 2019. Highlands was an exploration and development company with assets focused in Papua New Guinea that included the world class Ramu Nickel Cobalt mine. Craig has vast experience working in Papua New Guinea, working with Chinese partners and corporation transaction including joint ventures, mergers & acquisitions, capital raisings and debt funding.
Preceding Highlands, Craig had worked for KMPG for five years in Australia gaining experience in industries including manufacturing, construction, retail, hospitality and mining. He also worked in the United Kingdom for two years in the manufacturing industry.
Craig is a Chartered Accountant, has a Graduate Diploma in Applied Corporate Governance with the Institute of Chartered Secretaries and Administrators, and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Finance with FINSIA and is a member of the Australian Institute of Directors.
