Five directors quit after Richmond Gulf buys into Acadia

Acadia became a dormant exploration company when it dealt all but its royalty interest properties in the Maritimes to Guinness Gold Resources (ASE) in a shares-for-ground swap earlier this year. The company then sold it s 60% stake in Guinness. Six of its seven directors approved that deal, but five resigned when Richmond Gulf acquired a 14.2% stake in the company.

Leaving the board are Avard Hudgins, Sam Reed, Wayne Beach, Frank Pearson and William Burton. Hudgins and Burton are directors of Guinness along with Paul Legere.

President Don Smith and R.L. Torrance, the two remaining Acadia directors, say geologist Stanley MacEachern and William Baird, Acadia’s vice-president of finance, have been appointed to the board pending TSE approval.

Smith and Bruce Orsini were the principal beneficiaries and directors of Richmond Gulf when it amalgamated with Pomac Mines and a handful of other companies late last year. Smith has since resigned as a director of that company.

The former Acadia directors told The Northern Miner that Smith brought Orsini into the picture as a deterrent to the rest of the board in disagreements over the company’s direction. “Possible conflicts of interest between common directorships of Guinness and Acadia had nothing to do with the resignations,” said one of them.

Acadia made cash payments to Pomac totalling about $100,000 over the past few years for a gold property near Sioux Lookout, Ont. Ironically for Acadia shareholders, that money happens to have helped finance Richmond Gulf’s acquisition of Acadia shares. Most of the cash, about $700,000, came from the sale of the assets of Thermal Explorations, a subsidiary of one of the amalgamated companies.

A plan by Acadia to consolidate its stock on a 1-for-3 basis was to be voted on at the shareholders’ annual meeting, Oct 30. But that meeting was never constituted. A new date for the company’s annual meeting has not been set.

Acadia traded this week at 33 cents and Richmond Gulf has been inactive since the Pomac et al takeover. A bid of 5 cents has stood for months.

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