Mark Smith: How I Ran The Top Performing Venture Company in 2014
Is luck a major component of running the best performing company on the TSX-Venture exchange? We went straight to the source to find out – Mark Smith, CEO of Niocorp Developments (TSE:NB).
Mr. Smith is well recognized in the mining community, having recently served as CEO and Director of Molycorp, Inc., where he was instrumentally involved in taking that from a private company to a publicly traded producing mine. Prior to that, Mr. Smith was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Chevron Mining Inc. and managed the real estate, remediation, mining and carbon divisions of Unocal Corporation for over 22 years. During his tenure with Chevron Mining Inc., Mr. Smith also served as a Director of Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração (CBMM), part of the Moreira Salles Group, a private company that currently produces approximately 85% of the world supply of Niobium.
Talking points of our interview cover –
• Niobium is not a rare earth, but it acts like one in many ways
• Did you know that the rare earth sector is arguably the most volatile sector in the public markets? That means tremendous upside!
• One producer of niobium supplies 85% of the world’s market!
• Mark was previously CEO of Molycorp – so why did the stock tumble from $75 to $0.45 cents?
• What it takes to run the best performing company in Canada?