http://www.stockhouse.com/Community-News/2010/Jul/22/Premium-in-transition-after-death-of-CEO

Stock up 22% after junior releases drill results from Idaho gold project

Premium Exploration Inc. (TSX: V.PEM , Stock Forum ) says it is currently looking for a candidate to succeed former chief executive officer Wilf Struck, who died earlier this month when his motorcycle was hit by a suspected drunken driver while he was travelling near Calgary.

Struck’s long-time associate Del Steiner is acting as ceo for the time being. But company spokesman Mike Brambley said that he will hand over the leadership role as soon as a successor is chosen , leaving Steiner to concentrate on the company’s platinum-palladium property in Montana .

The search for a new ceo comes after the market reacted favourably to drilling results from Premium’s Friday-Petsite project in central Idaho. Investors reacted to the results, which were released after the close of trading on Wednesday, by sending the stock price up 22% to 46 cents on Thursday .

The results were from the first three holes of an ongoing 10,000-metre drill program, which have added about 200-metres of strike length in an area known as the Lower Block. It is located directly beneath an NI 43-101-compliant inferred gold resource of 531,890 ounces, which the junior hopes to quickly expand.

Meanwhile, Brambley said the company has sufficient in-house expertise to carry on in the absence of Struck, previously the firm’s lead geologist. “Wilf and Del go back 26 years and they have worked on the Idaho properties in the 1980s and 1990s ,’’ he said, adding that the properties are well known to Michael Ostenson, the company’s vice-president, exploration.

“It is a very tight team, we have very good geologists on board ,’’ Brambley said.