"... don't indicate to me an acrimonious resignation."

It's easy to agree with that, though Pete could have had his fill of BG going to him for money to keep the company alive and paying its bills.  But this is of no matter, IMO.

The most serious questions now are:  Who will become the new CEO, and will it be someone with the contacts and proven history to move the company closer to drilling Hay Mountain?  Nothing else matters though I can see a new CEO chosen on an interim basis to carry the company through the selection process. 

If it is anyone now associated with this BOD or advisors/contractors of the last few years, I will not take it as good news.

How about someone from Aztec who are now successfully drilling at Tombstone (and in Mexico) or someone of the caliber of Peter Megaw, who so well understands the region's geology and is a known mine finder?  Or someone from Hudbay who have multiple high-grade new copper porphyry discoveries nearby?  Or someone from Resolution Copper, with the world's largest undeveloped copper porphyry deposit along the same trend as Hayden, Johnson Camp, Tombstone, Bisbee, and into Mexico? 

How about that world-class explorationist BG admired so much, the one who became a hydrologist and disappeared into a Caribean Islands tax haven?  Naw, bad joke! 

VP