The former head of Kin Mining says he lost the support of the Board while attempting to keep a director from being booted out.

Kin Mining (ASX:KIN) revealed on Monday that it received a demand from former chairman Terrence Grammer, along with former non-executive director Marvyn Fitton and Orbit Drilling, that a meeting be called for shareholders to vote on the removal of David Sproule as an executive director.

Don Harper resigned as managing director immediately following the news.

“There’s a dysfunction in the board that we believe this is not a good thing and unfortunately part of the board is not supporting us in this battle,” Mr Harper told Stockhead.

“I can’t work with a board that’s not united because basically my job is to execute [the Leonora gold] project but if I haven’t got full Board support it’s very, very difficult to add value for shareholders.”

Mr Grammer and Mr Fitton have not yet outlined their reasons for wanting Mr Sproule off the board.

Kin Mining (ASX:KIN) shares over the past month.
Kin Mining (ASX:KIN) shares over the past month.

The pair stepped down from Kin in February last year to allow Mr Harper and Mr Sproule to take seats on the board.

“We’re not sure what we did wrong,” Mr Harper said. “The company is in very good shape. Market capital is obviously double since we started.”

Kin took out the “Best Emerging Company” award at last year’s Diggers & Dealers gathering in Kalgoorlie.

After touching a low of 7.4c in early 2016, the stock catapulted as high as 44.9c in May last year.

But the shares have since drifted to half that value — and fell another 12.5 per cent on Wednesday to 21c.

Mr Harper said Mr Sproule’s removal would not be good for shareholders.

“It’s going to affect shareholder value in my opinion because they want to get rid of someone that’s very, very important to the success of the company,” he said.

Mr Sproule has gotten Kin to where it is today — $40 million in the bank, fully permitted and ready to start building the processing plant in the next couple of weeks, Mr Harper said.

“He’s been instrumental to get us to this point, but of even further importance when you build these projects – there’s only three people in Australia who can actually do it. David is one of those guys.

“It’s a first principle build – that means you do it from the ground up by yourself, that’s why we’re so cost effective, but you need the right skill set and guidance to achieve that.”

Kin reached a decision to mine at its Leonora project following the completion of a definitive feasibility study in the December quarter. The company began site clearing work earlier in February to make way for the processing plant.

Stockhead is seeking comment from Mr Grammer.

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