TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Independent advisory firm Glass, Lewis & Co has advised shareholders in Chariot Resources to vote for the re-election of the current board of directors, and reject the slate nominated by dissident shareholders Lukas Lundin and Brian Edgar.

Chariot's flagship project is the Mina Justa copper deposit, in Peru, but Lundin and Edgar said last week that they believe the current board has not done enough to progress the project and that the board is responsible for a “consistent undervaluation” of the company by the market.

However, Glass Lewis “does not believe that the dissidents have made a valid case” for the election of their nominees to Chariot's board, and points out that, although the copper junior's stock has fallen sharply over the last year, it has traded in line with the peer set defined by the company's management.

Lundin and Edgar are both directors of Lundin Mining, which owns about 18% of Chariot, and Glass Lewis noted that Lundin Mining's shares have actually underperformed relative to both the management and dissidents' peer indexes, as well as Chariot's stock over a three-year period.

The advisory firm also raised concerns that the dissident nominees all “have their hands full with prior commitments”, as five of the six nominees have “extensive” time commitments as members of other boards or as executives of Lundin Mining.

"While the company's performance has been less than stellar, we do not believe that it is so relatively poor as to warrant the appointment of the dissident nominees in this case,” Glass Lewis said.

“We also believe that shareholders should be mindful of the relative underperformance of Lundin Mining's share price.

The dissident shareholder group has nominated Colin Benner, Donald Charter, Richard Clark, Wojtek Wodzicki, Lundin and Edgar for election to Chariot's board.

Although Lundin Mining has said it does not plan to bid for Chariot, Chariot CEO Ulli Rath has pointed out that the presence of so many Lundin-linked directors on the firm's board would likely deter any other potential suitors.

Chariot is scheduled to hold its annual shareholders meeting on September 4.

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