The new leadership of SolGold has discovered that $US4.6 million ($6.68 million) spent by the company between 2017 and 2021 was “misappropriated”, in a revelation likely to alarm big shareholders such as BHP and Newcrest.

SolGold’s discovery of a prospective copper and gold deposit in the Ecuadorian jungle lured BHP and Newcrest to acquire rival 13 per cent stakes in the company, but the big miners spent much of the period between 2018 and 2021 concerned about corporate governance at the explorer.