X64 faces new push by Ryan Welker to roll its board

Ousted former Ten Sixty Four boss Ryan Welker plans to return for another attempt to remove the board of the troubled gold miner, as the bitter brawl over its future continues.

Ousted former Ten Sixty Four boss Ryan Welker plans to return for another attempt to remove the board of the troubled gold miner, as the bitter brawl over its future continues.

The Australian understands Mr Welker and allies at coal developer Vitrinite will lodge a fresh notice seeking a board spill at X64 on Thursday, almost six months after losing out in their first showdown with the company’s board, led by NRW Holdings founder Jeff McGlinn.

The move comes 50 days after X64 suspended trading in its shares on the Australian exchange, citing the need to complete a “comprehensive operational audit” at its Co-O gold mine in the Philippines after the company sacked long-term mine boss Raul Villanueva – one of a number of local shareholders that own 60 per cent of the company that controls the mine.

The messy falling out with Mr Villanueva has plunged X64 further into the mire, amid reports of a dispute with nearby landowners over royalty payments and a move by the Philippines mine boss to expel X64 representatives from the boards of the company’s subsidiaries in the country.

On March 7, X64 deferred the release of its half-year financial accounts and withdrew its annual production and cost guidance.

Since then the company’s shares have remained suspended, with little information released by the company on progress of its ongoing issues in the Philippines.

On April 11, X64 said it was “aware” of reports suggesting there was a threat to its control of its Philippines gold mine, and it expected to report the results of its audit by May 11.

“All activities relating to mining, processing, gold production, resource exploration and underground development of the Tigerway Decline project are continuing,” X64 said. “The company … reiterates that it retains 100 per cent legal control of its operating subsidiaries.”

In October, Mr Welker lost out on an attempt to replace X64’s board with a suite of his own nominees, including former Commonwealth Bank executive Debra Bakker and US-based Ned Collery and Lazaros Nikeas, with the Vitrinite-backed candidates winning about 44 per cent of the shareholder vote at the meeting.

But Mr Welker now appears to be backing the former management of the company’s mine, telling shareholders he had “verifiable reports of a near complete relationship breakdown between the Perth-based X64 board and in-country mine management”.

Mr Welker and his allies have put together a new suite of potential directors for the company, which the coal hopeful says are independent of Vitrinite.

Ms Bakker is back for another run at the X64, along with corporate lawyer Robert Milbourne, mining industry veteran Jonathan Shellabear, Andrew Brown and John DeCooman.

“There has been a further deterioration in the company since we last proposed new directors, despite favourable market conditions,” Vitrinite says in a letter to X64 shareholders.

“The current board has lost the trust of the community and local mine management, and as such its social licence to operate.”

In July last year, X64’s board sacked Mr Welker amid allegations – which he denies – that he failed to disclose an interest in a company handed drilling work on a suite of Queensland exploration bought by the company from Vitrinite.