PERTH (miningweekly.com) – ASX-listed Dart Mining on Monday announced that it would adopt a 15-month strategic plan to advance its Unicorn base metals project, in Victoria, following the removal of the company’s board in February.

Dart has restructured its entire board after a small group of shareholders, with a combined 13% interest in the company, requested that all existing directors be removed.

Following consultations with the shareholders, it was decided that directors Richard Udovenya and Stephen Poke would resign from their positions, while Chris Bain vacated the chairperson seat.

The company told shareholders on Monday that the new plan would involve the staged expenditure of some A$9.9-million to accelerate the completion of a preliminary feasibility study at Unicorn, as well as to advance exploration within the company’s portfolio.

The first stage of the plan has already been launched with petrology and mineralogy work under way to define the potential impact and distribution of the copper/zinc separation issue. The work would likely be completed by July this year, and would further clarify the full suite of the inter-related feasibility studies at Unicorn.

The remainder of the 15-month plan would incorporate resource upgrade drilling, accelerated work on establishing and expanding data acquisitions and performing the environmental study work, as well as engineering infrastructure studies and mine and processing plant designs and costings.

Dart’s newly appointed chairperson Bruce Paterson said that the company’s key initial task had been to restore momentum at the Unicorn project, by outlining objectives, tasks, timing and funding requirements.

“In doing this, as well as maintaining our geoscience commitment and rejuvenating regional exploration, I believe the current board has initiated restored stakeholder confidence.”

Despite the apparent optimism, Paterson said that the company continued to be mindful that clearly communicating the progress made in reaching the objectives would be essential in retaining and increasing shareholder confidence.