Shareholders past and present say the leadership of Whitehaven Coal has lost trust after two downgrades in the space of 24 days were punctuated by a $1.7 million share sale by managing director Paul Flynn.

Fresh geology problems at Whitehaven’s Narrabri mine hit sales volumes, product quality and received prices, triggering a massive selldown and calls for leadership change from the man who was once Whitehaven’s biggest shareholder, Nathan Tinkler.