Shareholders shuffle Gordex directors, await Cambior deal

Some financial and technical muscle has been added to the board of directors of Gordex Minerals (TSE) of Saint John, N.B., after shareholders voted to replace four existing directors.

The company could become a significant gold miner in the Maritimes. Gordex is to sign a formal option agreement soon with Cambior Inc. (TSE) which will see the major explore ground adjacent to Gordex’s Cape Spencer small producing gold mine near Saint John.

Cambior can earn a 55% interest in the new ground by spending $1.5 million and financing development to production. Drilling will start immediately after the agreement is signed.

At Gordex’s annual meeting in Toronto, former director Douglas Williamson handed a clear message to management — shareholders are not happy with the way the company is being handled.

At the meeting, shareholders elected four new members to the board of directors after Williamson nominated some new alternatives to the slate proposed by management. A ballot for the new 7-member board contained 12 names, seven of which were the existing directors and five of which were new nominations. Shareholders selected the seven names that they wanted as directors.

The new directors are: Dr Gerald Carlson, director of investor relations for Equity Preservation, Mario Caron, vice president of mining and development for Somicom, Liberal Senator Romeo LeBlanc and Jean Rainville, vice president of CMP. Equity Preservation, Somicom and CMP are limited partnerships which raise flow- through funds for junior exploration companies.

They have joined Morton Gordon, who also serves as chairman and president, mine engineer Harold Pawson and mineral economist Dr George Rainville, all of whom served on the board in 1987. Gordon is founder of the company.

Equity Preservation, a major shareholder in Gordex, did not cast a vote in the decision.

Williamson, who nominated five directors other than those nominated by management, says the move was not intended to be a power struggle, rather, it was a way of getting people with more mining experience onto the board.

The move was successful and all parties say they are pleased with the results.

Leaving the board are Saint John lawyer Paul Zed, Robert Snodgrass, president of a manufacturing company, and Williamson who is an account executive with Walwyn Stodgell Cochran Murray.

“It was a very gutsy move by Williamson,” says David Scott of Levesque Beaubien, who mediated the move. “It brings some dynamic people with prestige and credibility and who control some important purse strings to the board.”