Gem prospector and would-be uranium play Reefton Mining is suspended from AIM at 2p following the resignation of nominated adviser Grant Thornton and broker HB Corporate.

Gerry Beaney of Grant Thornton was unavailable for comment this afternoon about why the accountancy group has resigned as nomad to Reefton. HB's David Newton says the broker's resignation was triggered automatically by the nomad's departure.

Based in West Australia and backed by entrepreneur Vladimir Nikolaenko, Reefton, floated on AIM by HB at 3.5p three years ago, had been looking fruitlessly for gems on Namibia's 'Skeleton Coast'. In March, however, the shares leapt from 2.6p to 6.75p when chairman Bradley Moore generated short-lived excitement over possible uranium deposits near mining giant Rio Tinto's existing Rossing uranium mine.

With uranium prices soaring on moves to rehabilitate nuclear power generation, Reefton's announcement of 'a new uranium target' in its Erongo polymetallic project in central Namibia was timely, to say the least. Moore said the company had found four 'radiometic anomalies' close to two Rio's long-standing Rossing mine and Paladin Resources' Peter Heinrich uranium deposit and proclaimed Reefton had hired respected Dr Christian Schlag to investigate.

Sceptics argued the Erongo anomalies were identified by analysing previous theoretical studies rather than physical exploration. The Erongo boom ran out of steam and Reefton's price soon fell back again.