Scotland’s only commercial gold producer has a temporary new boss.
Scotgold Resources said today chief financial officer Sean Duffy was also now interim chief executive, “with immediate effect”.
Last week the Alternative Investment Market-listed company announced Phil Day was quitting the hotseat as he wished to spend more time with his family in Australia.
Scotgold operates Scotland’s only commercial gold and silver mine at Cononish, near Tyndrum, in Argyll.
Sean Duffy has more than 25 years’ experience in mining
Announcing additional duties for its CFO, the firm said: “Sean Duffy has extensive experience in the mining industry supporting multinational and junior mining companies develop and expand operations through construction and into production.”
In a career spanning more than 25 years, Mr Duffy, 54, has held senior finance positions at mining companies including Adriatic Metals, Black Dragon Gold, Asian Mineral Resources, Anglo Asian Mining and BHP Billiton.
Scotgold said it was continuing the search for a permanent successor to Mr Day.
Chairman Peter Hetherington added: “Sean has the knowledge, relationships and expertise to manage on-going workstreams, ensuring continuity in our operations to drive the long hole stope mine plan and development of our Cononish gold mine towards full production.”
A stope is a dugout tunnel or space containing the ore being mined.
Scotgold, whose mining activities in Argyll featured in popular BBC TV series Gold Town, has previously said Cononish is only the beginning of its Scottish gold ambitions.
The company holds 13 lease option agreements covering an area of nearly 1,120 square miles of the central Highlands, mostly in rural Perthshire.
“First pour” of commercially produced gold from Cononish was on November 30 2020.
But efforts to ramp up production this year have hit challenges. Bosses were forced to shore up the firm’s finances after production levels fell “below plan” in the first quarter.
And in late March shares in the firm slumped more than 65% after it highlighted the potential for a “material uncertainty” over its “very immediate” future.
Police intervene
Scotgold said much of its recent output had “turned to waste”, rather than deliver valuable gold.
It also revealed it had called in the police after the email accounts of executive directors were accessed by “unauthorised persons” and “specious emails” sent in their names to numerous people.
Shareholders have pumped millions of pounds of fresh capital into the business.
And lender Bridge Barn, controlled by Scotgold non-executive director and former chairman Nathaniel le Roux has deferred capital and interest payments worth nearly £3 million.
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