Proxy battle at Massive meeting

The board of directors for Massive Resources (TSE) got a surprise at the company’s annual meeting recently in Toronto.

President John Sadowski intended to announce at the meeting that he was negotiating seriously with financial backers in the United Kingdom to raise the necessary funds to buy the control block of Twin Gold Mines (ASE) from Agassiz Resources (TSE).

Twin holds the Lingman Lake gold property in northwestern Ontario, where Massive has an option to earn a 31% interest by spending $10.5 million. Reserves in all categories stand at 1.7 million tons, averaging 0.24 oz gold per ton.

But the council for five dissident American shareholders, three of them former directors of the company, successfully forced the postponement of the meeting until they could nominate a new slate of directors. Ignorance of Canadian corporate law apparently prevented the dissidents from doing so before the meeting.

In a heated exchange during proceedings Stan Altschuler, one of the dissidents said “we want someone to resign, damn it. Aren’t you tired of the things that are happening with this company? It’s a sham.”

The meeting was then adjourned to sort out the procedures for nominating new members to the board.

A spokesman for the dissidents told The Northern Miner they approve of the work of Sadowski and director Orville Seeber, but would like to replace the other three directors with “people who are doers, not just rubber-stampers.” They will be given about 60 days to mail a list of alternative directors to shareholders, who will vote on which slate to accept on Nov 30.

President Sadowski told The Northern Miner he is confident that shareholders will support the board nominated by management. They include David Mason, Michael Newbury and Mitchell Welters.