Other changes will see non-executive director and former Lundin Mining (CN:LUN) executive Neil O'Brien become non-executive chairman, filling a position that has been left vacant since July. Kuenzel, meanwhile, will become finance director.

Struthers, also previously at Lundin Mining, was only named COO at the end of last year.

Georgian said the changes followed an agreement between the company and its partner Caucasian Mining Group regarding the joint 50:50 funding of the 2018 work programme at its Kvemo Bolnisi East copper-gold project on the Tethyan Belt.

The programme is geared towards making a development decision by the end of the year on the gold oxides close to surface at Kvemo Bolnisi East Gold Zone 2 (GZ2). This ore is expected to be processed at either Madneuli or Sakdrisi, nearby operations owned by CMG's production arm, RMG.

The plan for development would see infill drilling kick off next month, which is expected to take two months to complete with the results incorporated into a final JORC-compliant resource estimate for the gold oxides at GZ2.

Although shareholders had been waiting for close to a year to hear of such news, it did not initially go down well.

Its stock closed 13% lower and has not yet recovered to the pre-announcement price of £0.10 (US$0.14) per share. At £0.095, its share price is down 40% since January 31.

Still, its shares are currently up 2.7% for the day.

Kuenzel, who previously told Mining Journal he expected Georgian to be mining at the project by the end of last year, had always planned to step aside to allow the "right man to take over at the right time", according to Georgian's nominated advisor and broker, SP Angel.

Georgian was keen to point out Struthers and O'Brien's engineering and technical and management expertise, which it said would go a long way to helping the company  meet its objectives.

These are:
•    Advance the technical and financial studies at Kvemo Bolnisi East to cement the production sharing agreement with RMG, and ready the asset for production; and,
•    Develop the "full mineral potential for both the wider KB project and the remainder of the JV licence area", Georgian said.

The company has an 860 square kilometre licence in Georgia and has already defined both a gold and copper resource at Kvemo Bolnisi East.