Stornoway turns over Ashton board (October 11, 2006)

Robert Boyd will stay on as interim chief executive officer at Ashton Mining of Canada (ACA-T, AMCFF-O), but now that Stornoway Diamond (SWY-T, SWYDF-O) has a 73% interest in the company the board of directors is being shuffled.

Stephen Jopling, who represented Rio Tinto (RTP-N, RIO-L, RIO-A) on the Ashton board, resigned following Rio’s sale of its stake into the Stornoway offer. Stornoway has put two directors, Brian Irwin and David DeWitt, on the Ashton board.

Four Ashton directors — Boyd, chairman John Cole, plus Pierre Lebel and Alfonso Grau — will resign from the board once Stornoway’s offer expires, to be replaced by Stornoway president Eira Thomas and another Stornoway nominee, Marcel de Groot. Boyd will stay, however, as president until the board names a new one.

Boyd was asked to stay and continue to manage Ashton’s assets, particularly the advanced Renard diamond project in Quebec.

Outside directors David Watkins and Bernard Coulombe will remain on the Ashton board, to include them and the four Stornoway nominees.