Toronto-headquartered gold junior Harte Gold’s share price took a knock on Thursday, following news the previous day that the company is overhauling its management, with a search for a new CEO, CFO and COO under way, and the termination of previously announced financing from Echelon Wealth Partners.

The miner announced on Wednesday that Stephen Roman had resigned as president and CEO, but that he would continue to serve as nonexecutive chairperson of the board.

A new CEO should be appointed by October 28.

Roman said in a media statement that it was time for an operating team to continue growing Harte Gold, which has transitioned from an exploration company to a producer.

Under an agreement with private equity fund Appian Natural Resources, a board renewal process as also under way. A reconstituted governance committee, chaired by Appian appointee Michael Scherb, would make recommendations on the selection of management and board candidates that would “best serve the company to achieve operational success and grow the company’s profile in the capital markets”.

Roman would continue to serve on the board, along with existing members Richard Sutcliffe, Scherb and Geoffrey Cohen.

Two new independent directors would be appointed, one of whom would be qualified to assume the position of chairperson of the audit committee and be a member of the governance committee. The new CEO would also be appointed to the board.

Current directors Fergus Kerr, a retired mining engineer, and Richard Faucher, a retired metallurgical engineer, had agreed to resign.

Meanwhile, Harte Gold announced that a C$6-million bought deal financing with Echelon Wealth Partners had been terminated. The miner said that it would monitor the market’s response to the announcement to determine the appropriate financing plans going forward.

Notwithstanding that, the company said that it would generate positive cash flow in the fourth quarter and beyond, and that it had an available standby commitment of Appian for up to an additional $7.5-million in non-equity financing.

Harte also said that it would raise additional capital during the remainder of 2019 to address short term working capital and operational needs.

Under the terms of the agreement with Appian, Harte would issue to the fund 3.95-million warrants to purchase common shares at an exercise price of $0.35 a common share, expiring on August 28, 2022. 

Appian already controlled about 25.3% of Harte’s shares and following the latest transaction, it would own about 27% of the company.

Harte’s share price fell by 12.31% to C$0.28 a share on Thursday, erasing all the gains the stock had made since Monday.

Harte is Ontario’s newest gold producer through its wholly owned Sugar Zone mine in White River.