Ionic Mineral Technologies Appoints Kelton Smith as Chief Technology Officer

Rare earth and hydrometallurgical engineer with more than 25 years of plant design, startup, and operations experience joins Ionic MT to lead Silicon Ridge's advance from PEA into feasibility-level engineering, process validation, and commissioning readiness

PROVO, Utah--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Ionic Mineral Technologies (“Ionic MT” or the “Company”), a U.S.-based vertically integrated producer of advanced materials and critical mineral solutions, today announced the appointment of Kelton Smith as Chief Technology Officer, effective August 3, 2026.

The appointment marks a deliberate stage-gate for the Company: with the Preliminary Economic Assessment (“PEA”) for the Silicon Ridge Project complete, Ionic MT is moving technical execution in-house under a single accountable executive as the project advances into feasibility-level engineering, process validation, procurement planning, scale-up, and commissioning preparation.

“Silicon Ridge is entering the phase where projects are won or lost on execution — engineering discipline, process validation, procurement, and commissioning,” said Andre Zeitoun, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Ionic MT. “Kelton has done this at the highest level. He helped design, build, and start up Mountain Pass, the only integrated rare earth mining and processing operation in America, and he has spent his career turning complex, multi-product flowsheets into operating plants. He already knows Silicon Ridge inside and out — and now he owns its technical delivery end to end. When you find someone with both firsthand knowledge of your project and hard-won startup experience at national scale, you bring him in-house.”

Smith brings more than 25 years of experience in process engineering, plant construction, commissioning, and operations across the mining, minerals, specialty chemicals, and metals sectors, including more than a decade focused on rare earth and critical mineral processing. He served as Operations Manager and Engineering Manager at Molycorp during the design, construction, and startup of the modernized Mountain Pass rare earth mine and processing facility in California, today operated by MP Materials. He later served as Director of Engineering at NioCorp Developments, supporting development of the Elk Creek niobium, scandium, titanium, and rare earth project in Nebraska — an integrated, multi-product critical minerals flowsheet that included engagement with U.S. federal financing and project-development programs.

Smith joins Ionic MT from Tetra Tech, where he served as Process Department Lead for Salt Lake City and Denver. In that role he acted as Ionic MT's owner's engineering consultant during preparation of the PEA for the Silicon Ridge Project. The PEA was prepared independently by SGS, which served as the Qualified Person, in accordance with U.S. Regulation S-K subpart 1300; Smith supported the Company on the owner's side of that process through Tetra Tech. Bringing him in-house establishes direct technical continuity and single-point accountability from study through execution.

“I have spent twenty-five years building and starting up critical mineral processing plants, and I have evaluated a great many projects along the way. Silicon Ridge stands apart,” said Kelton Smith. “It has a defined resource, an operating processing and development facility in Provo, a flowsheet built for products this country urgently needs, and a leadership team that treats technical rigor as a first principle. The work ahead is the work I like best: validating the process at scale, locking the engineering, and building the safety, procurement, and commissioning discipline that carries a project from study to steady-state production. I came here to build.”

Smith is a Registered Member of the Society for Mining, Metallurgy and Exploration and meets the requirements to serve as a Qualified Person under NI 43-101, S-K 1300, and JORC reporting standards. He is a certified Six Sigma Black Belt and holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering from the University of Utah.

As Chief Technology Officer, Smith reports directly to Founder and Chief Executive Officer Andre Zeitoun. He will lead process development, feasibility-level engineering, metallurgical test work, pilot-to-commercial scale-up, vendor and procurement oversight, HAZOP and process safety leadership, and commissioning planning. He will also oversee the Company's internal technical standards and disclosure processes and coordinate with Ionic MT's independent Qualified Persons, engineering advisers, strategic partners, and government stakeholders.

About Ionic Mineral Technologies

Ionic Mineral Technologies is a U.S.-based vertically integrated producer of advanced materials and critical mineral solutions. The Company is developing the Silicon Ridge Project on Utah state trust land, where production royalties support Utah's K-12 public schools, and operates a downstream processing and development facility in Provo, Utah. Learn more at ionicmt.com.