It’s been a long week for Eastern Goldfields.

First the besieged gold explorer was threatened with a protest by disgruntled contractors at the Diggers & Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie. Now it’s on the hunt for a CEO while correcting “inaccurate” media reports over the future of its executive chairman.

The Perth-based company alleges that following a presentation by executive chairman Michael Fotios at Diggers & Dealers on Tuesday, media reports incorrectly stated he would be stepping down from the position.

Eastern Goldfields (ASX:EGS) said Mr Fotios would stay on as executive chairman for at least 12 months and the company was on the lookout for a new CEO.

“The company confirms that it is searching for a CEO to take over the day-to-day running of Eastern Goldfields and that the CEO would likely move into a position of managing director over time,” it said.

“It is anticipated that this would be a 12 – 18 month process, at which time Mr Fotios would step back from his current position of executive chairman and move into a non-executive chairman role.”

The news comes after the Perth-based company was threatened with a protest ahead of Fotios’ Diggers & Dealers presentation on Tuesday from contractors owed money for work carried out at its flagship Davyhurst project.

However after discussions with the contractors, Eastern Goldfields confirmed in a statement prior to its presentation that it had paid or would shortly pay contractors, resulting in the protest being cancelled.

Last month, GR Engineering Services stated that it had begun legal action in the WA Supreme Court against Eastern Goldfields to recover outstanding payments relating to a $12.5 million contract it had signed over refurbishment of the Davyhurst project.

At the time, Eastern Goldfields said it had already paid GR Engineering Services $10.4 million.

Eastern Goldfields wholly owns Davyhurst which lies in the highly prospective Eastern Goldfields region of Western Australia.

Davyhurst is located 120km north-west of Kalgoorlie and is host to multiple gold deposits. Total resources are 1.4 million ounces at an average grade of 2.5 grams per tonne. The tenements are also highly prospective for nickel and copper.

The company did have some good news this week after visible gold was intersected after 13 holes were drilled for 1680 metres over a 530 strike length of the Riverina gold deposit located within the Davyhurst mining hub.

“This was the first time visible gold has been identified in drill core at Riverina by Eastern Goldfields,” the company said.

Assay results are expected shorty from the drilling programs at Riverina and Callion deposits.

Shares in Eastern Goldfields were unchanged at 25c at 1.20pm Thursday AEST.

 

This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.

Featured Companies

You might be interested in