Rowena Smith

Career chronology

• COO from July 2021; CEO from 6 July 2022; MD from 6 March 2023; identified in FY2026 report and 28 August 2026 completion release: Australian Strategic Materials Limited — Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer; previously Chief Operating Officer. Annual Report 2022 (pp. 44-46, COO appointment 5 July 2021 and CEO appointment 6 July 2022); Annual Report 2023 (p. 59, Managing Director appointment 6 March 2023); Annual Financial Report 2026 (p. 2, directors up to report date; p. 3, annual operating statement); Energy Fuels completes acquisition of ASM (lines 8-11, CEO title at scheme completion)

• Before joining ASM in July 2021; South32 reports her as VP Supply from March 2015 and Chief Sustainability Officer from August 2017 in its 2018 annual report; ASM describes the prior roles but exact departure date is not disclosed: South32 Limited — Chief Sustainability Officer and Vice President Supply, Australia region. Annual Report 2023 (pp. 58-59, prior South32 CSO and VP Supply roles); Annual Report 2022 (p. 46, prior South32 CSO and VP Supply roles)

• Earlier career, before South32; issuer reports 14 years at BHP but does not date every position: BHP / Nickel West — Head of Resource Planning and Development; Manager Strategy and Acquisitions; General Manager, Kwinana Nickel Refinery; other marketing and operational leadership roles. Annual Report 2023 (p. 59 and p. 74, previous BHP/Nickel West positions); Annual Report 2022 (p. 46, 14 years with BHP and prior positions)

• Earlier career; exact role dates not disclosed: Rio Tinto — Operational leadership in aluminium smelting. Annual Report 2023 (p. 59 and p. 74, earlier Rio Tinto aluminium roles); Annual Report 2022 (p. 46, earlier Rio Tinto operational roles)

Education and qualifications

Bachelor of Commerce and AICD membership reported

Qualification dates not disclosed · issuer reported · low materiality

ASM reports that Smith holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Western Australia and is a member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. These particulars were not independently checked against university or professional-body records.

Attribution: Responsibility not applicable. Education and membership are reported by the issuer; no independent credential verification was located in the logged searches.

Relevance: Commerce education and director training are relevant to managing a listed resource company and its acquisition process.

Management Team (lines 11-13); Annual Report 2023 (p. 59, B.Com and MAICD)

Contributions and company outcomes

Korean Metals Plant commissioning and commercial ramp-up

2021-2026; FY2026 ended 30 June 2026 · issuer reported · high materiality

ASM's July 2022 appointment release says Smith had led the Dubbo team and overseen construction and commissioning of ASM's first Korean high-purity metals plant. The FY2026 report says KMP had been in commercial production since 2022 and dispatched about 116 tonnes of NdFeB alloy and 33 tonnes of NdPr metal in the year to 30 June 2026; it also records first commercial sales of terbium and dysprosium metals. The company reported a 99% increase in gross profit, alongside an overall loss that increased 12%. Smith's operational role is documented, but the later shipments and group-level financial results are not individually attributed to her.

Attribution: Role overlaps event; causation unproven. Smith's role in plant oversight is issuer-documented; production and profit outcomes are company-level disclosures and do not establish sole personal causation.

Relevance: Commissioning and commercial ramp-up are directly relevant to ASM's downstream metals strategy and a CEO's execution record.

Global mining executive Ms Rowena Smith appointed ASM CEO (lines 4-5); Annual Financial Report 2026 (p. 3, Korean Metals Plant, safety, dispatches and heavy rare earth sales; p. 4, financial review)

Energy Fuels scheme was approved and implemented

January-August 2026 · documented · medium materiality

During Smith's tenure as MD & CEO, ASM shareholders approved the scheme on 12 August 2026, the Federal Court approved it on 18 August, and it was implemented on 28 August. ASM was removed from the ASX official list on 31 August and became a wholly owned subsidiary of Energy Fuels. The sources establish completion and her executive overlap, but do not establish that she alone caused the transaction or quantify the realized value for each shareholder.

Attribution: Role overlaps event; causation unproven. The completed transaction overlapped with Smith's documented MD & CEO tenure; the evidence does not isolate her personal contribution to negotiation or execution.

Relevance: A completed sale and integration transition are material corporate outcomes for an executive leading the target company.

Federal Court of Australia approves Schemes (lines 1-16 and 36-71); Energy Fuels completes acquisition of ASM (lines 1-11); Annual Financial Report 2026 (p. 2, director transitions effective 28 August 2026)

Business failures and setbacks

Dubbo remained pre-construction after several years of CEO tenure

2021-2026; annual review covers 1 July 2024-30 June 2025 · documented · medium materiality

ASM's 2024-2025 Annual Review states construction had not commenced on site. Its FY2026 report describes continued options assessment and heap-leach pre-feasibility work. Smith was ASM COO from July 2021 and CEO from July 2022. This is a material project-delivery gap against the company's mine-to-metals strategy; the public evidence reviewed does not identify her as the sole cause, and no inference of misconduct is made.

Attribution: Role overlaps event; causation unproven. Smith's senior operating and CEO tenure overlapped with the delay. Project financing, engineering, market and permitting constraints are not resolved here, so personal causation is unestablished.

Relevance: Dubbo is ASM's cornerstone mine and the upstream source for its planned integrated rare-earths chain; non-delivery is material to an executive's execution record.

Dubbo Project 2024-2025 Annual Review (pp. 1-2, compliance statement and pre-construction status); Annual Financial Report 2026 (p. 3, Rare Earth Options Assessment and project pathway); Annual Report 2023 (p. 59, COO/CEO appointment chronology)

Industrial safety

ASM reported no reportable KMP safety incidents in FY2026

1 July 2025-30 June 2026 · issuer reported · low materiality

ASM's FY2026 Annual Financial Report states that no reportable safety incidents were recorded at the Korean Metals Plant during the year ended 30 June 2026 and reports a lost-time injury frequency rate of zero. This is an issuer-reported one-year site metric, not an independent audit of the full company safety record or Smith's personal safety performance.

Attribution: Role overlaps event; causation unproven. The site result overlapped with Smith's CEO tenure, but the report does not assign the safety outcome to her personally.

Relevance: Workplace safety oversight is relevant to an executive of a metals plant and development-stage mine.

Annual Financial Report 2026 (p. 3, Korean Metals Plant safety section)

Environmental record

Dubbo compliance report and regulator portal show no recorded project enforcement

FY2025 review period; NSW portal checked 9 October 2026 · documented · low materiality

ASM's authorized 2024-2025 Annual Review says the project complied with its State Significant Development consent and mining lease, with no non-compliances listed, while noting construction had not commenced. The NSW planning portal displayed no enforcements for the project and says its enforcement list covers departmental actions from March 2020. These records bound the conclusion to the named project, period and regulators; they do not establish an absence of all environmental concerns or events across ASM's Korean operations and other jurisdictions.

Attribution: Role overlaps event; causation unproven. Smith's ASM COO/CEO tenure overlapped with the project reporting. The annual review is issuer-certified; the regulator portal is a limited independent enforcement check. Neither establishes her personal causation.

Relevance: Environmental compliance and community impacts are material to the planned Dubbo development.

Dubbo Project 2024-2025 Annual Review (pp. 1-2, statement of compliance and non-compliances); Dubbo Project (formerly known as the Dubbo Zirconia Mine) (lines 83-92, enforcements scope and current display)

Litigation and enforcement

Court noted incomplete early descriptions of scheme conditions, later remedied by booklet disclosure

January-May 2026; schemes approved and implemented August 2026 · documented · medium materiality

In the first court hearing for the Energy Fuels schemes, the Federal Court recorded that some Smith media answers in January and March 2026 identified conditions precedent but did not mention court approval. The Court accepted ASM's submission that the fuller scheme booklet remedied any resulting misapprehension, while leaving the question of whether extra-booklet communications compromised meeting integrity for the later approval hearing. The schemes were subsequently approved by the Court on 18 August 2026 and implemented on 28 August. The judgment does not find that Smith committed fraud or personal misconduct; the incomplete descriptions and their correction are retained as a limited governance/disclosure issue.

Attribution: Individual involvement documented. The judgment attributes the cited media answers to Smith and records the procedural response. It does not find that she intended to mislead or that a legal breach occurred; subsequent scheme approval and implementation resolved the transaction's status, not every possible interpretation of the interviews.

Relevance: Accurate transaction communication is relevant to a CEO's governance and shareholder responsibilities.

Australian Strategic Materials Limited, in the matter of Australian Strategic Materials Limited [2026] FCA 616 (paras. 49-52); Federal Court of Australia approves Schemes (lines 11-16, court approval on 18 August 2026); Energy Fuels completes acquisition of ASM (lines 1-5, implementation and delisting)

Governance and interests

ASM added risk detail after an ASIC request

November 2022 · documented · low materiality

ASIC contacted ASM requesting additional clarification of material risks in the FY2022 Annual Report; after discussions, ASM issued an addendum. Smith was CEO and named as an investor contact in the release, but the release does not say she authored the original report, identify an ASIC enforcement action, or find personal wrongdoing. The disclosure update is a company-level governance item with role overlap only.

Attribution: Role overlaps event; causation unproven. ASM issued the addendum after ASIC correspondence; no individual responsibility is established.

Relevance: Relevant to a CEO’s disclosure-control oversight; the source describes clarification, not a personal finding.

2022 Annual Financial Report addendum (pp. 1-2, lines 8-25)

Suitability for the current role

Long mining, operations, commercial and ESG leadership background

Earlier career through 2026 · analyst inference · medium materiality

Issuer biographies report almost or over 30 years across mining and minerals processing, with prior leadership in strategy, operations and commercial roles, South32 supply and sustainability responsibilities, BHP Nickel West and Rio Tinto aluminium. ASM stated that she led the Dubbo project team and oversaw construction and commissioning of the Korean Metals Plant while COO. This background is relevant to a mining-to-metals executive role; most chronology is issuer-reported and the profile does not establish independent performance attribution across prior employers.

Attribution: Responsibility not applicable. The assessment concerns role relevance inferred from the documented roles; it does not assign causation for employer outcomes.

Relevance: Mining operations, metals processing, supply and ESG experience align with ASM's operating KMP and development-stage Dubbo project.

Global mining executive Ms Rowena Smith appointed ASM CEO (lines 4-5 and 21-22); Annual Report 2023 (p. 59, career and appointment summary)

Evidence gaps

• The selected v6 company.json has no executive_roster or roster date. The current ASM management webpage is undated and still labels Smith CEO after the acquisition; the acquirer’s 28 August release calls her former CEO. No post-close appointment or employer role was located.

• Prior-company role dates and her B.Com/AICD credentials were reported by ASM and were not independently verified in this review.

• The 18.7 MB scheme booklet could not be rendered by the web source reader. The review therefore uses the Federal Court judgment and dated approval/completion records; the court’s observations and the later correction are retained.

• The scoped public web searches are not exhaustive criminal, sanctions, litigation, regulator or credential checks.