TORONTO (miningweekly.com) – Aspiring intermediate gold miner Kirkland Lake Gold has finalised the appointment of new board chairperson Eric Sprott after receiving regulatory and board approval, replacing retiring chairperson and director Harry Dobson with immediate effect.

Sprott (70), a renowned and respected leader in the investment community, was currently one of the world's best gold and silver investors.

After earning his designation as a chartered accountant, Sprott entered the investment industry as a research analyst at Merrill Lynch & Company. In 1981, he founded Sprott Securities (now Cormark Securities), which was now one of Canada's largest independently owned institutional brokerage firms.

After establishing Sprott Asset Management, in December 2001, as a separate entity, Sprott divested his entire ownership of Sprott Securities to its employees.

He recently resigned from his position as the lead portfolio manager at Sprott Asset Management, a Toronto-based alternative asset manager, and remained as chairperson of the board of Sprott Incorporated, an asset manager that provided investors with the opportunity to participate in the future growth of the Sprott Group of Companies which included Sprott Asset Management.

As at January 26, Sprott held directly and indirectly, about 11.3% of the issued and outstanding shares of Kirkland Lake, as well as $1.55-million in principal amount convertible debentures.

“I'm delighted to be joining the Kirkland Lake board at this exciting time as the company's turnaround continues to gather pace. The Kirkland Lake gold camp is one of the most prolific gold camps in the world, blessed with world-class grades in a stable jurisdiction.

“Our company controls and has 100% ownership of five former producing mines in the camp that have in total produced in excess of 22-million ounces of gold. I believe there is significant opportunity for further organic growth from our large land package within the Kirkland Lake camp that will help us build the next great Canadian gold mining company,” Sprott noted.

Kirkland lake on Wednesday announced that it had successfully closed a C$35-million offering, which it would use for working capital and general corporate purposes.