Dissident shareholders of Empire Resources Ltd. have requested a general meeting to replace the company's current board with three new directors, according to a May 31 company release.
The 12 shareholders, which collectively own about 5% of the company, want to remove Lee Christensen, David Sargeant and Adrian Jessup and bring in Stephen Allen, Christopher Banasik and Brett Fraser.
The company has three weeks from May 25 to set a meeting date and is required to hold the meeting within two months.
Empire noted that Paul Williams and Peter McDonald, the directors of Brimstone Resources Ltd., are associated with some of the dissident shareholders. Brimstone is the company's 40% joint venture partner on the Penny's Find gold mine in Western Australia.
The company called the requisition "opportunistic for the Brimstone associated interests only," and said its not in the future interests of all Empire shareholders "This action seeking a new Board is self-focused and threatens only to erode Empire's share price," Empire said.
The company previously noted that Brimstone owes about A$1.1 million to the Empire for unfunded contributions and interest relating to development costs for Penny's Find. The payment is due in full on June 6.
