Guyana Goldfields Inc. has announced that effective as of yesterday, Mr. Scott Caldwell is no longer its President, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) or one of its directors. Acting in his stead will be Allen Palmiere.
The firm acknowledged that Caldwell, who was with the company since 2012, was instrumental in building the company’s Aurora mine on time and on budget.
On that note, Goldfields said that Palmiere will assume leadership of the company as Interim Chief Executive Officer and was proud to have him serve in this position as he brings over 35 years of operational and financial experience in the mining industry as well as extensive experience in senior executive and leadership roles.
Of particular importance, the Canadian company said, is Allen’s experience with mine production activities, having formerly held the position of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Directors of HudBay Minerals Inc.
Caldwell’s removal from the company was part of a settlement between Guyana Goldfields and a group of concerned shareholders who were caught in a battle for months over the poor performance of the Canadian firm.
Since January, last, Northfield Capital Corporation’s Robert Cudney, Donald Ross, Gretchen Ross, and Patrick Sheridan, who together own just about five percent of Guyana Goldfields, had accused the board of losing over CDN$1B (US$733M) in shareholder value due to a series of reckless decisions. They also accused the company’s executives of misrepresenting or incompletely disclosing the reasons for poor results.
In light of these and other allegations, the shareholders called for an immediate change of the Board, with Caldwell being the first to go. Caldwell had agreed to stay on until his replacement was found.
