04:25 PM EST, 01/10/2018 (MT Newswires) -- First Mining Finance (FF.TO) said Wednesday it is getting a new name, a new chief executive and a new strategy as it looks to concentrate on developing its existing mining properties instead of just investing in mineral assets.

The company, which plans to change its name to First Mining Gold Corp as of January 11, said Jeff Swinoga, formerly the chief financial officer of Torex Gold Resources (TXG.TO), will replace Chris Osterman as chief executive, effective January 15. Osterman will become the company's chief operating officer and focus on project development.

"I would like to thank Chris Osterman for his contributions in advancing the company to this point and for accepting the COO position," Keith Neumeyer, the company's chairman said in a statement. "With the company planning to aggressively advance its attractive portfolio of gold properties, Chris can now focus his efforts solely on advancing our projects."

The company intends to focus on the development of the Springpole Gold Project in northern Ontario in 2018, where it will begin the environmental assessment process. It will spend at least $5 million for the exploration of its other Canadian gold properties.

The company said its ticker symbol will remain unchanged after the name change. Its shares rose $0.01 to $0.54 Wednesday on the Toronto Stock Exchange.