"...could be grounds for legal action based on incompetent management..."

No, that's very unlikely, in my opinion.  Outside contractors were engaged in making the investigations supportive of the related acquisitions.

From previous professional experiences as a consultant to law firms in faulty construction law suites involving tract homes, I know that companies and managers can shop for the opinion they want to hear for permitting purposes.  The public and the courts cannot often know how many such reports are had before receiving the "right?" one(s).  I'm not saying that such happened in this case - I can't know.  But for those who don't recall, BG has a degree as a mining engineer and some experience in that area.  So, it would be tough to argue that he is unqualified to engage in exploration work.   Competency is an entirely different matter and harder to prove one way or another without proof of cognitive impairment, I would guess.  Let's not go there.