Appian founder and general partner Michael Scherb is now one of eight Harte Gold directors. Harte president and CEO Stephen Roman said the major shareholder's appointee founded Appian six years ago and oversaw the fund and its investment strategy.

"We appreciate the contributions Michael and the Appian team have made to accelerate the development of Harte Gold," Roman said.

"We have made tremendous strides since their initial investment in December 2016 and look forward continuing our close working relationship as we develop additional gold resources at the Sugar Zone property and transition to a cash flowing, gold producer in 2018."

Harte Gold said in a statement Scherb's appointment was "coincidental to the passing of Scharf".

Roman said: "Doug has been a close friend for many years and was an invaluable member of the Harte Gold family and will be sorely missed. We appreciate his dedication to the company, experience and expertise and extend our sincere condolences to Doug's family at this difficult time."

Harte Gold also said this week that it expected to provide "further detail" on its project debt arrangements by the end of April. Financing options to fund remaining construction capital and working capital for the first six months of operations, and "several term sheets for project debt and/or gold loans" were under review.

The company said mill construction at the 100%-owned Sugar Zone project was about 60% complete and remained on schedule for commissioning by early in the third quarter this year. Some 40,000 tonnes of material grading 5.1 grams per tonne was stored on the surface ready for processing during commissioning.

A 49km, 44kV power line from the nearby White River town grid is also under construction, with site transformers to be delivered in early June, and grid connection scheduled for the end of June.